we're good at bad ideas, my love
by coffeehelps
Summary: The first time Dr. Samantha Carter met Colonel Jack O'Neill, she was pinned to the wall of the Gate Room by some weird, alien device. The rest, as they say, is history. Sam/Jack AU
1. i've got soul, but i'm not a soldier

**Sam and Jack were the first ship that I ever had. I was probably ten or eleven when I started watching** _ **Stargate SG-1**_ **with my dad (it was season 7, I believe). I watched one episode with Sam and Jack and immediately decided that they were meant to be together. Every now and then, I'll get back into** _ **Stargate**_ **and I'm reminded why I loved Sam and Jack together so much.**

 **It's been a good seven years since I've written anything for** _ **Stargate**_ **. The show has been over for years now, but I've recently found myself re-watching all of my favorite episodes and have decided to take another try at writing some SG-1 fic. I have plenty of ideas, but this first one is one that has been done many times before: an AU where Sam never joined the Air Force. Enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own anything. The story title comes from the song "Dry the River" by New Ceremony. The chapter title comes from the song "All These Things That I've Done" by The Killers.**

* * *

 **one.**

 _Well_ , Dr. Samantha Carter thought from where she was pinned to the wall in the Gate Room. _This was so not how I imagined my day going._

Studying the orb had seemed simple enough. Sam had heard that Colonel O'Neill had to practically drag Dr. Jackson away from the device earlier that morning, so she got the impression that the neat looking orb was fairly important. She had no problem studying the device (and that incredibly power source that was tucked inside) that SG-1 brought back from P5C-353 for hours on end. Since SG-1 was gearing up to go on another mission, Sam knew that her study would be uninterrupted.

Sam should have known that it wasn't going to be that easy. She had only been at the SGC for six months, but she knew that things didn't stay quiet for very long.

Predictably, it all went to hell in a hand basket when the internal temperature of the device increased by fifty degrees in mere seconds. When the radiation the orb was emitting jumped to over four hundred percent, Sam had had enough. She hit the alarm on the wall, and Daniel Jackson had come running in (probably on his way to sneak one last look at the thousands of pages of alien text writing on the device before SG-1's next mission).

Shouted, tense words were exchanged between the two scientists that knew of each other but hadn't really officially met yet. Once Sam gave Daniel a rundown of what was happening, they had collectively decided that the orb had to go back to 353. Daniel ran ahead to alert the Gate Room, and Sam had grabbed heat-resistant cloth and shouted at Lieutenant Simmons to help her carry it. There was no time to find anyone else to do it, and it was clear that they needed to get rid of the orb, and _fast_.

Alarms were still blaring as Sam sprinted down the hall, quite possibly faster than she had ever run before. Simmons easily kept pace besides her, seemingly unbothered by the fact that the orb was now so hot, they could both feel the heat through the heat-resistant cloth they were using.

For Sam, that just meant that they had to get to the Gate Room faster. She had pushed her legs harder, keeping her grip tight on the dangerous looking spears protruding from the orb, despite the fact that her hands were now uncomfortably hot. They skidded into the Gate Room and moved towards the open wormhole. The SFs took up defensive positions around Sam and Simmons as they approached the Stargate, and SG-1 and General Hammond watched from the control room.

Sam had only been vaguely aware of those details as she stood in front of the event horizon—the first time she had ever done so. She only had one full second to gape at the puddle of blue water before the shriek of the alarms penetrated through her amazed stupor, and she and Simmons took a step towards the active Stargate.

That was as far as they got before the spear on the bottom shot out from the orb, sinking into the concrete floor of the Gate Room. Sam and Simmons dropped their cloths and jumped back from the orb as another spear shot out, this one up towards the upper left-hand corner above the control room.

Simmons had dove clear, and an SF was reaching for Sam, trying to pull her out of the way—

But it was too late.

The final spear burst from the orb and caught Sam's left shoulder, lifting her with it before it embedded itself neatly in the concrete wall to the left of the Stargate.

For a moment, Sam truly had no idea what had happened. The Stargate was still active, the alarms were still ringing, and Sam was pretty sure that someone was screaming.

It took another second for Sam to realize that that person was _her_.

Things had come into sharp focus then, and Sam heard Harriman call for a medical team as SG-1 and General Hammond raced into the Gate Room and stopped in front of her. They all stared with varying looks of horror and concern on their faces, and Sam was suddenly aware that _this_ was the first time she would be meeting SG-1 face-to-face.

"Teal'c!" The hard voice of Colonel Jack O'Neill seemed overly loud now that the alarms had been shut off and the Stargate disengaged. Sam's screams had subsided to whimpers, but she still kicked her feet and gripped the spear sticking out of her shoulder. "Get your staff weapon!"

"What…" Sam gasped and swallowed hard, forcing the sobs back enough so she could actually speak. Was this real life right now? What the hell was happening? "What are you going to do?"

In between pulses of pain, Sam's mind raced with what the colonel could plan on doing with Teal's staff weapon. Sam went through the stats she knew about the alien weapon, how it was made and just how much power it was capable of, and she knew what the colonel had planned on doing just as he opened his mouth and ordered Teal'c to fire.

"No!" Sam yelled. Her mouth clamped shut, teeth gritting in pain when Jack swung his face towards her, his eyes somewhere between blank and the kind of concern one has for someone that they don't really know.

"No offense, _Doctor_." The situation that they were in was miles past serious, and yet he somehow managed to get a measure of disdain in her title. "But I don't think you're qualified to assess the threat of this alien object, and what it could mean for you and the rest of the base."

Right there, pinned to the wall by said alien device, Sam rolled her eyes. Her whole was aching and going numb all at the same time from the way she was just hanging there, and sweat had gathered on her forehead, making her hair stick to her face. Sam knew that she didn't look that great, and she knew that she had just shown some pretty astounding attitude to the base's second in command, but she just couldn't bring herself to care.

It might have been the pain making her delirious, but she could have sworn that she saw something like surprised admiration flicker through Jack's gaze. It was gone as quickly as she thought she had seen it, and then Sam remembered that this man had ordered Teal'c to fire a staff weapon at something that was connected to her body.

She fought another wave of pain and sucked in a deep breath through her nose. The only time she could ever remember feeling this much pain was when had broken her left hand at the age of fifteen while ice skating—and even that was nowhere near as horrible as this.

"Jack," Daniel began, in his "Jack-you're-a-dumbass" voice (he used it at least twice a day). "I think she knows what she's talking about. She's one of the experts on the Stargate."

"Forgive me, Daniel, but that doesn't look like a Stargate," Jack retorted as he waved a hand at the orb. "I'm pretty sure no one is the expert on that thing."

"Well—"

"Boys!" The exclamation left Sam's mouth with surprising force, given the way she had been crying just minutes ago. Daniel and Jack stopped their legendary banter and both turned to look at her. Sam would have laughed at the matching looks of confusion on their faces if the situation had been so serious.

She had to get her explanation out, and it took more effort than she cared to admit. "The energy…" Sam managed. "From the staff weapon. It could transfer through the orb." _To me_. But Sam didn't say that last part, and she didn't need to. The unsaid words hung in the air between them, but it didn't matter, since Dr. Janet Frasier came tearing into the Gate Room, running remarkably fast for someone in heels.

As Janet clucked over her and inspected her wound, Sam saw Jack nod once at Teal'c. He disengaged his staff weapon and returned it to a rest position next to his side, though he did not step away from the alien orb. Sam's focused was jerked back to Janet when the doctor prodded the tender skin around where the spear had punctured her shoulder, and she hissed between her teeth.

"Oh, Sam." The doctor's voice was deceptively light as she helped two SFs get Sam situated on the stand they had found for her to sit on while she was pinned to the wall. "How did you manage to get yourself mixed up in this?"

Sam was feeling something else now, besides the pain in her shoulder. Her body felt too hot, her skin too clammy, and it was getting hard to focus. She pushed past that, unwilling to think about what would happen to her if she couldn't get it together.

She forced a smile for Janet's benefit. "Not really sure, Jan," Sam managed. "Ask me later."

Going from friend mode to Doctor Mode was something that Janet had mastered early on in her career. She explained to everyone in the room that there was little to no trauma around Sam's wound, and that she now had a fever. Simmons added that the device had leveled off at one hundred thirty degrees. Janet hooked Sam up to an IV, pumping her full of antibiotics and fluids as they settled in for the long haul.

Decisions were made quickly, then. Siler got a blow torch, Simmons and several other scientists went back to the lab to see what they could get from the preliminary research on the device, and Sam just stayed… pinned to the wall while SG-1 and General Hammond discussed what their next steps would be.

Eventually, General Hammond disappeared up into the control room and then up the stairs into the briefing room—he was probably headed to his office, so that he could alert the higher ups on why the SGC was under lockdown once again. Before he left, he cast a concerned, almost fatherly look Sam's way, but Sam knew that the general would never call her father to let him know that she had somehow gotten herself into a life or death situation, no matter how long they had known each other (besides, Jacob Carter would never believe George, and that was a whole can of worms that Sam just wasn't willing to open).

Major Charlie Kawalsky went to the lab to oversee the work the scientists were doing, even though he insisted that he wasn't going to be much help. Jack and Teal'c took up positions on either side of the orb, with Teal'c still holding his staff weapon. Sam eyed it warily, wondering just what would have happened if she had let him shot the orb. She was kind of glad that she didn't have to find out.

Daniel approached her, offering a kind—if a little tense—smile. Sam somehow managed one in return, and he stepped up onto the stool they had set up next to her stand. "Hey." His voice was gentle, comforting, and it was easy to see why he was the great communicator of SG-1. "I'm Daniel."

"I know," Sam muttered. She stretched her legs out, hoping to relieve some of the ache she felt, but even that small movement required too much effort. "I'm Sam."

"You worked at Area 51 before they sent you here, right, Sam? You're the one who helped us figure out how the Stargate worked three years ago." Daniel continued. It was obvious that he was trying to distract her, and Sam appreciated the effort, although it wasn't working. She tensed and felt her stomach clench painfully at mention of Area 51. She was sure that her reaction had more to do with whatever infection was invading her body instead of the mention of her previous place of employment, but it was hard to differentiate the two, especially in her current state.

Daniel seemed to sense that she hit her wall, because he grimaced apologetically and patted her uninjured side. "We'll figure this out, Sam," he assured her. "You'll be okay."

Sam tried not to doubt that they would. They were SG-1, after all. They always figured it out in the end.

She just wished it wasn't her ass on the line.

* * *

Sam lasted for exactly an hour before she demanded that someone bring her laptop to her.

Jack had been taking regular reports from Daniel, who had disappeared back into the lab to try and translate the writings on the device. Thus far, every single thing the tiny writings said were supremely unhelpful.

Sam was seriously beginning to hate how wordy aliens seemed to be. Why couldn't the device just say, "Here, this is what it does, this is how you turn it on, and this is how you turn it off." Would that be too much to ask?

Sam kept that opinion to herself, however.

"What could you possibly want with your laptop?" Jack demanded with an incredulous look.

His voice was sharp, barking, and his mouth was set in a grim, determined line as he kept track of Sam, Siler's progress with the blowtorch, and the alien orb all at once. Still, there was something in his amber colored eyes—something past the carefully blank wall—that made Sam wonder what kind of man Jack O'Neill really was.

In her current state, Sam had no problem dropping all professionalism and propriety. Janet had her doped up on all sorts of pain killers and antibiotics so Sam was sure that that contributed to her loopy-ness, as well, but the pain had faded to a dull ache that was more annoying than anything else long ago. Sam also knew, however, that her condition could deteriorate at any moment—all she had to do was look at the neon blue webbings that were creeping up and down her body. She needed to focus on helping them solve this problem while she still could.

It took effort to speak, and Sam's words came out slow and slightly slurred. She tripped over the larger words, and it was infuriating, to say the least. "I think I've proved… I'm helpful." She paused, swallowing past the persistent dryness in her throat and licked her lips. "I brought in the UV lights."

About ten minutes after everyone dispersed with their assigned jobs, Sam remembered the radiation the orb was emitting and suggested that UV lights be brought in. To the horror of everyone present, some kind of blue organism was spreading from the orb, through Sam and the rest of the spikes, and to the walls of the SGC. No one knew what it meant just yet, but there was no way that the spread of an alien organism could bode well.

Jack stared at Sam for a long, silent moment. Sam held his gaze, refusing to look away even as she swayed and relaxed further into the concrete wall behind her. She had to make herself useful somehow, even as she could feel the alien infection spreading through her body.

"Well," Jack finally relented. "I guess your brain working at half capacity is better than the rest of us at one hundred percent."

Sam managed a snort, even though it jerked her whole body and made pain pulse through her. "Who says… it's at half capacity?"

That got a half smile out of Jack that Sam was unafraid to admit (in the privacy of her own fever-ridden, drug-addled mind) was extremely attractive. Teal'c saw it, and arched a single eyebrow at the sight of that half smile. Jack snapped out of it, but not before a look of surprise passed over his face for half a second.

Then he was barking orders to the scientists—both military and civilian—that were running around the room, taking readings, and said they better make themselves useful and get Sam's laptop for her and a stand to put it on so she could reach it with her good hand comfortably.

Jack stepped back towards Teal'c, but Sam still heard him say, "If she figures this out while she pinned to the wall in the Gate Room, I'll never complain about sitting through a scientist's briefing again." There went Teal'c's eyebrow again, and Jack quickly amended, "Alright, I won't complain about one of Dr. Carter's briefings."

That made Sam smile dopily as she rested her head against the wall and closed her eyes. She had yet to give her first official briefing at the SGC, but she was suddenly looking forward to it.

* * *

Hours later, Sam's condition had deteriorated the point she could barely keep her eyes open.

Whatever virus-type thing had been released by the orb, it had infiltrated the SGC's computers and had effectively shut the whole base down (Trying to use a blowtorch to break through the spears to free Sam hadn't worked, either. Right before they had broken through completely, the spear had moved, shooting further into the concrete wall and Sam, by extension). The lockdown that Hammond had initiated nearly twenty-one hours before had resulted in an automatic countdown to the self destruct. They now had three hours to solve their problem, or it would be all over.

Janet had been down every hour, both to check on her condition and reassure her, as her friend, that they were going to figure this out. They had figured out that lowering the oxygen levels in the room would slow the organism down, which was about the only semi-good news Janet had been able to impart.

Kawalsky had placed himself in charge of the scientists, and he had already asked her three separate times how she managed to work with them on a daily basis. They didn't have too much to report that Sam didn't already know, and Kawalsky's frustration with their lack of progress was evident.

Daniel had been down almost every hour as well, to confer with Sam about the translation (while she had been coherent, anyway), and then just to see how she was doing. He assured her, each time, that they were going to "figure this whole thing out" and when this was all over and Sam was recovered, they would get coffee and talk about "all the scientific stuff that Jack will never let me talk about."

Teal'c had moved away from the orb, drifting across the Gate Room until he was standing in front of Sam. At first she thought it was because he was standing guard _because_ of her, just in case anything happened with the alien organism that was clearly invading her body. After careful scrutiny of the back of his head, Sam realized that Teal'c was actually standing guard _for_ her, and offering silent support that she appreciated more than words could say.

Jack, for his part, had split his time between the Gate Room and the briefing room with General Hammond. Every time he was in the Gate Room, he kept his eyes on her, watching her, studying her. Sam could almost feel his eyes on her, and it made her all the more determined to help them come up with a solution to this problem. Not only because it would save her life, but because it would prove Jack O'Neill wrong.

The more he watched her, the more that odd look she had seen in his eyes before intensified. Sam tapped away at her laptop, blinking against the fatigue and the fuzziness the pain killers were causing, and she tried her hardest to focus on the reports displayed on her screens. Not only was her life in danger, but other people had been infected with this virus, as well.

(Somehow, it made it easier for Sam to work when she thought about how the whole mountain was depending on them to figure this whole alien orb thing out. That pressure was a million times better than thinking about the fact that her life was at stake, pinned against the Gate Room wall.)

Eventually, when the exhaustion overtook her and Sam passed out, Jack was the one who climbed up onto the step stool and pulled the laptop away from her. She jerked awake when it was pulled away from her fingers, and she reached for it again with a weak noise of protest in the back of her throat.

Jack stopped her, his grip gentle but sure as he caught her hand in his and lowered it. "You need to rest," he said.

Sam shook her head, and grimaced at the fresh wave of pain that rolled over. Passing out was the worst thing that could have happened, since now the pain had returned full force. "Work," she gasped out.

Shaking his head firmly, Jack squeezed her hand. Somewhere in the back of her mind, behind the pain and the fuzziness from the drugs, Sam realized that for someone so hard—a soldier that had probably seen and done too much—Jack O'Neill had surprisingly gentle hands.

* * *

An hour and a half before the self destruct was set to go off, Daniel came running into the Gate Room, claiming that the device was actually trying to communicate with them.

After forcing her eyes open, Sam stared at the symbol on her own laptop screen (those blue little bastards had invaded her laptop through the power cord), and grunted in agreement with Daniel's assessment. The virus was actually an organism, they were trying to communicate. Daniel and Sam came to the same conclusion at the same exact time.

Daniel's eyes widened as he stared at Sam, at the spear protruding from her shoulder. Sam lifted her good arm and weakly pointed to herself. "Me?" she whispered, and Daniel nodded his head.

Jack looked between Sam and Daniel, his arms crossed against his chest, his brow furrowed. "What?" he asked.

"It makes perfect sense!" Daniel exclaimed. "Of course, this is what they were trying to do!"

"What?" Jack repeated, but it was like Daniel hadn't heard him.

"How else would they have done it? This was the most obvious way for them, probably."

"Daniel! You have two seconds to tell me what you and Carter figured out, or I swear I'll—"

Jack stopped yelling at Daniel abruptly when Sam's feeble laughter turned into violent coughs. Daniel's brow furrowed in concern and he stepped closer to Sam, reaching out to touch her knee.

"You heard what Janet said earlier, Jack," Daniel explained. "There's no trauma around the wound. Sam getting caught by the spear wasn't an accident. They wanted to use her to communicate."

That made Sam sigh. Great, she had been in the wrong place at the wrong time. How supremely fitting for the turn of events her life had taken in the last six months. Still, there wasn't much she could do about it now, and she knew what was coming next. From the grim look on Daniel's face, she knew that he had the same train of thought.

"I don't exactly see a whole of communication going on right now, Daniel," Jack said as he gestured between Sam and the orb. "Just a lot of… unnecessary ridiculousness."

Sam let out another laugh/cough. Of course Jack had managed to sum up this whole experience with two rather silly—but completely accurate—words. She didn't know the man at all (nothing past what she had read in mission reports), but she had learned enough in the last twenty-two plus hours to know that Jack O'Neill picked up on a lot more than he let on.

"Besides, what are we supposed to do?" Jack continued. "Use the computers to try and talk to it?"

Daniel watched Sam, trying to gauge her reaction as he spoke. She kept her gaze steady as she stared back at him. "No. I think we use Sam."

Jack's amber colored eyes swiveled back towards Sam. There was a storm brewing in there now, a hardness that was a little frightening to see. When he spoke, though, his voice was deceptively calm. "And how, exactly, are we supposed to do that?"

Sam's voice was barely above a whisper, but Jack, Daniel, and Teal'c were standing close enough that they heard her. "Give it… energy. Let it grow." She looked over at Teal'c and was surprised to see the respect in his eyes. "…Staff weapon," she whispered.

Teal'c inclined his head once and went to retrieve his weapon while Daniel rushed off to inform General Hammond of their new, crazy plan. Jack, meanwhile, was staring at her with an eyebrow arched in a fairly good impression of Teal'c. There was levity in his voice that was a direct contrast to his eyes, and the concern that was now showing.

"I thought you said that the staff weapon was a bad idea," Jack said casually. It was obvious now that he was trying to distract her, and it made the corners of Sam's mouth tilt up in a small, barely there smile.

"You may have… been right," Sam whispered, and then winced. She was positive that the colonel was a lot smarter than he pretended to be, but that didn't mean she wanted to admit to being wrong.

Jack grinned triumphantly at her then, as if he knew exactly what she had been thinking. Sam tried to convince herself that her heart skipped a beat just because she knew the base was now only an hour away from exploding, and not because Jack O'Neill had the sexiest grin she had ever seen.

* * *

Jack had no idea where this scientist had come from.

Despite what everyone thought, he actually did keep track of the _important_ memos. As the second at the base, he did need to know who was being employed where and what all of the major projects for. The name Carter rang a bell, but there wasn't whole much more than that little bit of name recognition.

Then she had come running into the Gate Room that morning, long blonde hair flying behind her with an alien device that was acting up in her arms. He'd seen scientists do some damn stupid things (Daniel Jackson was on his team, after all), but this had to take the cake.

Mmmm, cake. He made a mental note, for when this was all over: get cake.

Jack wished he could say that he had been surprised when the spears started shooting out of the orb, but it was really just par for the course. _Of course_ the alien technology was hostile, and _of course_ they couldn't just open the Stargate and throw the damn thing back through. What he hadn't expected was for the newest scientist of the SGC to get caught—literally—in the middle of this whole situation.

Hours later, after watching her—and with some initial, gentle scolding from Daniel for his earlier attitude—Jack had found his opinion of the blonde physicist beginning to change. It hadn't been something he expected, given that once Jack O'Neill made up his mind, it generally stayed that way.

But this was the SGC, and the SGC had been challenging his perception of the way things were for nearly three years now.

Even after being pinned to the wall, Sam still insisted on working through the pain, to the point that she passed out. In fact, she had come up with more ideas and more solutions than any of the other scientists. That alone was enough to garner his respect. What really cinched it for Jack, however, was the calm way she told the rest of his team and General Hammond to let the organism grow so that they could communicate with it.

There was a healthy dose of fear and apprehension in Sam's eyes, which made complete sense. In fact, Jack would be worried if Sam wasn't terrified. Still, she slowly and surely whispered her instructions to Daniel and Teal'c. Daniel squeezed her good arm before he hurried off to direct the scientists, and then Teal'c bowed his head respectfully and went to retrieve his staff weapon.

While Sam spoke quietly with General Hammond, Jack took the opportunity to study Sam without interruption. There was a quiet strength in her, something very resilient that Jack was slightly annoyed to find intriguing and… attractive. Which was completely inappropriate and out of place, given the fact that she was pinned to the wall by an alien device.

Well that was a problem for another time, Jack decided. He waited until General Hammond patted her knee and then moved away before he decided to check in with her to see how she was doing. Jack walked quickly, not wanting to give himself a chance to change his mind.

Jack approached Sam as everyone bustled around them, following her barely-coherent instructions. Janet had pinned up her hair hours ago, but damp wisps of blonde hair had escaped from the twist, sticking to her forehead. Jack resisted the strange urge to brush those strands away and climbed up on the step stool they had placed next to the ladder they had her resting on.

"Hey," he murmured, his voice gentle. She forced her eyes open and looked down at him, the blue orbs hazy with fatigue and pain—and a little bit of surprise. This was the nicest he had been to her in hours, after all. "You sure you want to do this?"

She made a noise in the back of her throat, licked her lips, and swallowed. "Only way," she managed. It was annoying, in a way. If it had been anyone else stuck to the wall like this, Sam would have gotten the opportunity to study the orb much closer, and she was positive that she could have figured this out faster if she wasn't suffering from a wound and whatever weird infection this was. There was no use dwelling, she knew objectively. Still.

"You could die." Jack wasn't going to sugar coat it for her. There was no point, and it would be a disservice to her not to be completely upfront.

Sam's good shoulder lifted ever so slightly in a shrug. She knew what was happening as well as anyone else. She would die anyway if that self destruct went off, and then the rest of the planet would be screwed when the virus or organisms—whatever they were—fed off of the energy from the blast. No one could risk that, and Sam, being the one pinned to the wall, understood that better than anyone.

Jack had worked at the SGC for almost three years. He knew what bravery looked like, he knew what courage was. He saw it in his own teammates every time they stepped through the Stargate. He had seen it on countless planets, in far reaches of the galaxy when people had stood what for what they believed in and helped SG-1 make a difference.

Now, standing in front of this scientist, Jack saw that courage shining back at him. He was sure that Sam Carter didn't even realize how brave she was being and in that moment, something heavy in his chest gave way just a little.

Staring into her eyes, he reached out and wrapped his fingers around hers. Her hand was limp, her skin clammy, but she still managed to curl her fingers around his and she held on. Jack brushed his thumb on the back of her hand, stroking soothingly.

"It's going to be okay," Jack said before he could really think about the words leaving his mouth.

Sam blinked slowly, and then she shook her head slightly. That small movement alone seemed to be too much for her, and she grimaced and slumped back into the concrete wall behind her. "How… do you know?"

Jack O'Neill wasn't one to make promises that he couldn't keep. Whenever he spoke—when it wasn't some lame joke, that is—he always knew that he could back up what he was saying, one hundred percent. There was no way that he could assure Dr. Samantha Carter that she would come out of this situation alive, especially given the fact that the self destruct was due to go off in exactly twenty minutes.

Still, staring into those blue orbs of hers, Jack somehow knew that they'd get out of this one. "Because I do," he said, and he squeezed her hand.

It took some effort, but Sam managed to squeeze his hand in return. Too tired to speak, she just returned his steady gaze, taking comfort that he was standing with her.

She believed him.

* * *

It got a little hazy after that.

Sam knew when the organism began to feed off of the extra oxygen in the room, since she suddenly lost the ability to speak properly. She could barely keep her eyes open, but she forced herself to do so, even though the world swam in front of her. They were now down to five minutes on the self destruct countdown, and every second counted.

Teal'c took up his position by the alien orb, his staff weapon at the ready. He looked at Sam, nodded once, and then fired.

The pain was worse than being stabbed through the shoulder with an alien orb-spear thingy like a shish kebab.

A sound of absolute pain tore from Sam's throat, but she managed to nod her head through it all, directing Teal'c to shoot off another blast at the orb. The pain was there again, but worse this time, and Sam was vaguely aware of the tears streaming down her face. No longer needing a cue, Teal'c fired the staff weapon again.

Then, mercifully, Sam blacked out.

* * *

When Sam woke up, she was in the infirmary.

Janet was standing over her bed, clucking as she checked her vitals. She noticed that Sam was awake, and she shook her head, her red hair staying still in its perfect twist. Sam shifted in the bed, immediately noticing the slightly painful pull in her left shoulder, and then the general and annoying ache in her entire body. She grimaced and then tried her hardest to smooth her expression out, knowing that she'd be stuck in that hospital bed for at least ten more hours if Janet saw anything remotely resembling pain on her face.

Of course, Janet had seen her tense. "You're a scientist, Sam," Janet reminded her. "You're supposed to stay out of trouble, you know."

Janet knew that just about anything could happen at the SGC. She had been inducted as the base's CMO two months after the Stargate program had officially been up and running, and she had truly seen it all since then. Sure, things happened on base, but it was generally the scientists that were on off world teams that gave her the most trouble. The ones stationed on base typically did not end up in any situation that was too dangerous, minus the occasional base-wide lockdown.

"You're the one who told me about this job!" Sam protested. She was in pain, and god only knew how many different kinds of drugs Janet was currently pumping in her. It just gave her an extra excuse to whine all that she wanted, despite the fact that Sam Carter never really whined.

Besides, she had just survived her first encounter with a Dangerous Alien Device. Sam figured that gave her some sort of leeway.

Janet shrugged unapologetically and then peeled back the shoulder of Sam's unattractive hospital gown. At least this one wasn't backless, so there was something to be said for small miracles. Janet checked the stiff bandages covering the puncture wound in Sam's left shoulder, and then nodded in satisfaction.

"There really wasn't that much trauma from the entry wound," Janet told her. "It only required a few stitches, but unfortunately, it will leave a scar. It's alien technology, after all. God only knows what those spears were made of."

"Metals not yet discovered on Earth," Sam answered automatically. "We were able to break them down and we added two new elements to the Periodic Table."

Janet gave a smile at Sam's new discovery before she went back into Doctor Mode. "I want you in a sling for two weeks, though."

"What?" Sam was already a little peeved at the mention of a scar, even with the fact that it been created with some newly-discovered metals for Earth. Her voice rose with each word spoken, and she waved her good hand dramatically beside her. "What do you mean, I have to be _in a sling_? What good would that possibly do me?"

"It will help you heal," Janet said patiently.

"But in a _sling_?"

"There's really no use arguing with the good doctor, you know. She'll just win in the end."

Both Sam and Janet looked towards the entrance of the infirmary. SG-1 was standing there, and they were all watching Sam with indulgent smiles on their faces. Sam could physically feel her face turn red as she slumped down in the hospital bed, and then made a face as the movement pulled at her shoulder. Janet immediately bent over her, her hands moving to her shoulder, and Sam scowled. She slapped her friend's hands away and shifted over on the bed for good measure, just in case Janet got any ideas about checking her bandages again.

Jack frowned as he stepped into the infirmary. "How come you never let me do that, Doc?" he demanded. "You have no idea how many times I've wanted to."

Janet just stared calmly at the colonel. "Big needles, Colonel," she reminded him.

Jack sobered instantly and nodded. "Yes, ma'am." His three teammates were snickering behind him (well, Daniel and Kawalsky were; Teal'c had just arched an eyebrow), and Jack spared a glare over his shoulder for their trouble. It hardly quieted them, however, and Jack just shook his head and sighed dramatically.

The whole exchange made Sam smile, which seemed to be Jack's goal. Once he noticed her smiling, his own lips tilted up, and he shoved his hands into his pockets as he rocked back onto his heels.

"So," he said. "You saved the base."

Sam blinked at him. "What? No, I didn't. I just…" She flushed again. "You know. Hung out. On the wall."

Jesus, that was embarrassing. These men had risked their lives for the planet over and over, and she had somehow gotten herself pinned to the wall like a decoration in the Gate Room. That was so not how she wanted to leave her mark on the SGC (literally, in this most recent case).

"You still saved the base," Jack reiterated. His amber eyes were serious as he caught her gaze and held. Sam stared at him for a long moment before she nodded her head and looked away. She didn't quite believe him, but she supposed that she would just have to take his word for it.

Luckily, Daniel was there to distract her. He waved a file folder over his head before he perched himself on the foot of her bed, like he belonged there. "I have the report from this whole thing. I figured that you'd want to read it over—especially the part where the organism took over your body."

Suddenly eager, Sam took the report from Daniel and flipped it open. "Oh, yeah!" she exclaimed. With the pain from the staff weapons, she had blacked out, and thus had no idea what happened after that. Obviously, their crazy plan had worked, since there was no orb with spears puncturing Sam's shoulder, no neon blue organism infecting the SGC, and no self destruct that had gone off. Clearly, the organism had communicated with SG-1 and had left, leaving the SGC orb-free once again.

"I don't really remember anything," Sam mentioned off-handedly as she skimmed through the report and found the part she was looking for.

"Really?" Jack demanded as he came to stand next to her bed, on the side that her head was closest to. He snatched the report from her and set it aside, despite Sam's shout of protest. "Allow us to fill you in, then."

And from then on, Dr. Samantha Carter was friends with the men of SG-1.

* * *

 **two.**

See, it happened like this:

Six months ago, Samantha Carter left her fiancé at the altar, got on a plane, and flew to Colorado.

Two days later, she started her new job at Stargate Command.

It had been Janet's fault, really. The two of them had been friends since their undergrad, and had kept in touch over the years in between. Of course, Sam had insisted on Janet being her maid of honor, and Janet had accepted—despite her misgivings about the man that Sam had chosen to marry. She had performed all of her maid of honor duties, all the while telling Sam about the position in the physics department of the SGC that had opened.

Sam knew about the Stargate, and everything that had been done at the SGC since that very first mission. Katherine Langford had tapped Sam to help her figure out the Stargate while Sam had still been in grad school. All the way through getting her doctorate, Sam had studied the Stargate and the admittedly small bit of research that Katherine's team had gathered.

It wasn't until Daniel Jackson had signed on that they had really started to make some progress. At that point, Sam had never met the archeologist, but Katherine had, having been the one to recruit him. She traveled back and forth between Nevada and Colorado, acting as the go-between for the information Sam and Daniel were discovering.

Once Daniel had uncovered the address to Abydos, Sam had gotten to work creating a dialing program for that one address. A month later, it was all systems go. No matter how hard Sam campaigned, she wasn't allowed to go on the mission. When she found out that Daniel had been included, she had nearly blown a gasket.

The Air Force was still keeping her employed as a civilian scientist out of Area 51, however, and she was getting a pretty nice paycheck, so Sam supposed that she didn't have too much to complain about. She continued to work at Area 51 and eventually, the team sent through the Stargate that very first time returned (sans Daniel). Sam ate up the mission reports, and then the Stargate program faded into obscurity.

Almost a year after that, Sam got a phone call at six o'clock in the morning, demanding that she report to Groom Lake. She was told that the Stargate program was starting up again, and she had better come up with a dialing program that could work for places other than Abydos.

Sam had spluttered at the demand, and then she had gotten to work.

Many cups of coffee and sleepless nights later, Sam had it: a working dialing program. It spiraled from there. She did many things from Area 51: she designed the GDOs and shipped them off to the SGC; she helped design the iris that was in place to protect the base; and she studied every piece of alien technology that came out of that mountain. She'd stay up for hours reading every mission report she could get her hands on. Sam Carter wasn't afraid to admit that she was a complete geek for the SGC.

In the middle of all of that, Sam had started dating Captain Jonas Hanson. He had been stationed at Area 51, and he had asked her on a date a year after the Air Force started sending teams through the Stargate. A year after that, they had moved in together; six months later, Jonas had proposed. And then it had all gone to hell.

It was easy to remember what it had felt like, sitting on the plane in her wedding dress. Sam wasn't a terribly dramatic person, despite the evidence that pointed to the contrary as she stuffed her tulle skirt into the airline seat. The only seat available had been a first class one, so at least Sam only had to suffer her embarrassment in front of one person, with slightly more sitting space.

She knew everyone was staring at her, and she settled herself into her seat with as much dignity as possible. Sam had barely made the flight as it was, and there had certainly been no time to stop and change on her mad dash from the church.

It was only when they were taxiing down the runway that Sam realized some of the tulle from her voluminous skirt (seriously, who had talked her into this white, frothy monstrosity?) was spilling onto the seat of the poor older woman next to her. Sam gathered as much of it as she could and muttered an apology under her breath as she viciously shoved the tulle and satin in between the armrest and her seat.

"So, dear." The older woman smiled kindly at her. "Did you leave him, or did he leave you?"

Sam blushed and cleared her throat. She shifted in her seat and wished that this stupid wedding dress didn't have a corset with the most uncomfortable ribbing in the history of wedding dresses. "I, ah… I left him."

"Ah." The woman nodded in understanding, and there was no judgment in her eyes. Despite everything Sam had been through in the last twenty-four hours, she felt a little better. "I see. I figured that might be the case, since I doubt Colorado Springs is typically a honeymoon destination. Any particular reason you decided to go there?"

Maybe it was just the stress of the day, or maybe it was because Sam had completely upended her life and she just needed someone to talk to, no matter who that person was. Whatever the reason, Sam found herself spilling her soul to the kindly, older woman sitting next to her on that plane.

"For a new life," Sam whispered. She cleared her throat, swallowed, and blinked against the tears that had sprung to her eyes. "A new chance."

She brushed aside her hair, then—it had long since toppled out of the elaborate updo it had been pinned in for the ceremony. The movement caused the fabric of the off-the-shoulder dress to slip down on her right arm, revealing the four bruises on the upper part of Sam's arm. They were all in the perfect shape of someone's fingers.

To her credit, the woman didn't gasp, or cry out, or react in hysterics. Instead, she pressed her lips together and nodded her head towards the bruises, and Sam didn't bother to try and cover them up. Instead of feeling vulnerable, Sam felt strangely empowered, and she knew that no matter what happened after this, she had made the right choice.

"Is that why you left?" the woman asked.

"Among other reasons," Sam confirmed. "This…" She gestured to her arm. "It happened once. Last night, actually. And that was enough. I had enough. So I left."

Sam didn't even remember what she and Jonas had fought about. Even though it had happened less than twenty-four hours ago, it had seemed like it had been years since Jonas had grabbed her arm in a tight grip and wrenched her across the room, causing her to slam into the kitchen counter with breathtaking force. Sam had a bruise on her lower back, as well, and she had brushed off Jonas's apologies and any attempts to help.

They had gone to bed separately, just as any future husband and wife were supposed to do the night before their wedding. Sam had woken the next morning in a stupor and had gotten ready in a trance. She had ignored the cajoling attempts of talking from her mother and Janet, and, five minutes before she was set to walk down the aisle, Sam finally came to her senses.

What the hell was she doing?

Leaving was the easiest decision she had ever made. Deciding to go to the SGC just made it all the simpler. She had left a note for Janet, describing her plan, but not the reason she had left, and then had hopped on the first available commercial flight. With her connections in the Air Force, Sam knew that Janet would probably reach Colorado Springs before she did.

The older woman had summoned a flight attendant and ordered champagne, and told her to keep it coming. When Sam had asked why she had chosen champagne, the older woman smiled.

"Because, dear. We're celebrating your new life."

By the time she had arrived in Colorado Springs and found Janet waiting for her at the airport, Sam was well and truly drunk. But she was happier than she had been in a long time.

* * *

 **three.**

Jack stared at the opening of the lab.

This was probably a very bad idea.

Even as that thought flickered through his mind, Jack pushed past it and knocked once on the doorframe. Despite the hindrance of having only one available, working arm, the blonde physicist on the inside seemed wholly enthralled in her work.

Holding the two plates he had brought with him steady in one hand, Jack entered the lab and stood in front of her work bench, patiently waiting. The blonde scientist in question still had her face attached to her microscope, and bounced back and forth between that and her laptop. Every now and then she would swivel around and scribble something on the whiteboard behind her.

She did all of this without noticing Jack. He took a moment to be impressed by her superior multitasking skills before he cleared his throat. After all, enough was enough, and he had been waiting there for an awfully long time. While holding cake, no less. He thought that he had been exceedingly patient for a man that had been waiting to eat cake.

Sam jumped and looked at him with wide, blue eyes. "Oh! Colonel O'Neill!" she exclaimed. "I'm sorry! What can I do for you?"

"It's about time," Jack muttered instead of returning her greeting. He pushed some papers aside and then set the plates of cake down on the work bench—one in front of her, and one in front of him.

Her eyes narrowed even as her cheeks began to turn red. "How long have you been standing there?"

"Long enough. I've been waiting to eat this cake since that orb plucked you off the wall in the Gate Room." He pulled two forks from his pocket, pressed one into Sam's hand, and then dug into his own.

Sam stared at the fork in her good hand, then at the plate of cake, then at Jack, and then back to the fork. "Um… Colonel O'Neill?"

"Call me Jack."

"Jack."

"Yes?"

"What's the cake for?"

"To celebrate."

"Dare I ask what we're celebrating?"

Jack sighed and, using his fork, pointed to the sling her left arm was still resting in. She was day four into her two week sentence with the arm sling, and she was already plotting ways to throw it out. Every time she tried to take the sling off, however, Janet managed to somehow magically appear. It must have been her spidey Doctor Sense tingling, or something.

"We're celebrating the fact that you survived your first encounter with an alien device. That good enough for you?" Jack was smiling, but his eyes said something different, and it was startling easy for Sam to read it in that moment. Maybe it was just because he was letting her see it, but Sam could get the sense that he was very glad that she was okay. The concern was still there as he took in her sling and the uncomfortable way that Sam wore it, but the relief that she had survived the encounter with the orb was there.

Sam smiled and dipped her fork into the yummy looking chocolate cake. "Yes," she said. "That's good enough."

They ate in a comfortable silence, and Jack didn't even make fun of her when she fumbled the fork and nearly knocked her plate off the work bench. Really, the stupid sling was just too much, and Sam planned on ditching it at the first opportunity.

They were almost finished eating when Jack spoke again. "This actually gives me the perfect opportunity to tell you about rule number one for SG-1."

"Um… rule number one for SG-1?" Sam repeated. She pressed her index and middle fingers into the crumbs leftover from the cake on her plate and then licked them from her fingers. She missed the way that Jack gaped at her, but he had recovered by the time she looked back up. "Why would I have to know that?" While Sam dreamed of going through the Stargate, she had no desire to be part of a first contact field team. It wasn't something that she had ever considered, and she was in no way prepared to entertain that idea.

"Because," Jack said, as if that answered everything.

Sam studied him for a long moment, and she suddenly got it. For whatever reason, SG-1 had decided to take her under their wing. Daniel was now almost always in her lab, going over research with her and discussing alien devices—he talked about anything and everything, really. Kawalsky sometimes showed up with him, and he just asked questions about anything he could find in her lab. Teal'c would sometimes join her, sitting quietly with her. Jack would join them when there was at least one or members of his team in her lab. This was the first time had ever shown up by himself.

Sam didn't realize just how lonely her lab had been until SG-1 had started to fill it up. She appreciated their chatter and their disagreements about random and weird things. She liked having them around, she realized. They all seemed to understand that without her having to actually say it.

"Alright," Sam said as she nodded her head. "What's the first rule?"

Jack grinned at her. "Don't touch anything—especially the Dangerous Alien Device."

Sam rolled her eyes, but she didn't bother to argue. It wasn't like she would win, anyway.

* * *

 **Okay, I honestly don't know where this is going. I just sat down and started writing, and this is what came out. I had originally intended for this to be a one-shot, but that's obviously not going to happen. Questions about this alternate universe will get answered in later chapters. Thanks for reading!**


	2. a warmth i'll not forget

**Fun story: I'm a pre-k teacher, and we had some parents donate toys recently. My class received multiple stuffed animals, and among them was a little stuffed version of Maggie from** _ **The Simpsons**_ **. I laughed about it way longer and way harder than I should have.**

 **Thanks for all the reviews for the first chapter! I know** _ **Stargate SG-1**_ **hasn't been on for a while, so it's awesome to know that people are still reading fic for this show.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Points if you realize who I borrowed Karen from Karen's Café from. :) This chapter title comes from the song "Ever the Same" by Rob Thomas.**

* * *

 **four.**

Sam climbed out of her car and grabbed the coffee cup that had been sitting in her cup holder. She set it on the roof of her car and then reached over to the passenger seat, grabbing her laptop bag, purse, and the file folders she had brought home the night before. She shouldered the bag and her purse, pushing them high up enough on her shoulder to ensure that they stayed there. Sam tucked the four, thick file folders into the crook of her arm, and then she grabbed the coffee cup with her free hand and turned to head into the mountain.

Sam was halfway through the parking lot when she heard someone calling her name. Turning, she saw Jack and Daniel heading towards her from another row of parked cars over to the left. SG-1's parking spots were considerably closer to the entrance, for obvious reasons. That didn't stop Sam from being a tad envious as she shifted, rolling her shoulder to keep the straps of her bags in place. It was a pain in the ass to make more than one trip to her car when her lab was stationed seventeen floors underground, so Sam always tried to haul everything in at one time.

"Hey, Sam!" Daniel greeted cheerfully. "Need a hand?"

Sam smiled at both of the men. "Oh, you don't need to—"

She stopped talking abruptly as Jack stepped forward and relieved her of the file folders she had been in danger of losing. Sam really hoped that he hadn't heard her sharp, quick intake of breath as he stepped into her space, close enough that she could feel the heat of his body. She mentally cursed herself for her reaction and tried to tell her pulse to slow the hell down.

So Sam asked a question to distract herself from her thoughts and her body's reaction to the colonel. "What brings the two of you into the mountain at the same time? And…" She checked her watch. "At a relatively normal hour?"

It was just before eight in the morning. Everyone knew that Daniel spent a ridiculous amount of time on base—he was normally there three nights out of the week, at least. The colonel, on the other hand, did try to go home each night, unless there was a base emergency of some sort. Given that it was the SGC, there was more often a problem than not. So Jack found that he spent way more nights on base than he had ever intended.

Jack clapped Daniel on the back with his free hand. "We've collectively decided that Daniel needs to spend less time on base, so he had to go home last night. Plus he had to bring his car in for inspection, so I gave him a ride today."

Daniel scowled at Jack at the mention of the amount of time he spent on base. He didn't say anything, however, since he really had no argument. That annoyed Daniel more than anything else, especially since he knew that Jack was right. Thankfully, he was given an out when he saw Sam sip from her cup of coffee. The paper travel cup was white, and there was some black script on the cup that was obscured by the protective coffee sleeve.

Always interested in coffee, Daniel asked, "Did you make that yourself?" He gestured at the cup in Sam's hand, and she pulled it away from her mouth and held it up for him to see. She twisted the cup towards him, allowing him to see the words "Karen's Café" printed on the coffee sleeve.

"I picked this up on my way to work, actually," Sam told him. "I make a cup in the morning at home, but there's this really great little café not far from my house. I pass it when I leave for work, so I stop there sometimes." She took another sip of the coffee and breathed in the rich aroma. "They make the best cup of coffee I've ever had."

Daniel squinted at the name of the café, as if he was trying to permanently imprint it in his memory. "Karen's Café. I'll have to remember that." He suddenly looked sheepish. "I, ah, really like coffee."

Sam nodded her head in understanding. She was a self-proclaimed coffee addict, and was not a fully functional human being until she had at least one cup in her system. Janet, who appreciated coffee just as much as the next person, frequently told her that she drank too much. That hadn't stopped Sam, of course. She could imagine that Janet had had the exact same conversation with Daniel. The archeologist's need for coffee was almost legendary in the SGC.

"I've been thinking about putting a coffee maker in my lab," Sam said.

"I have one in mine!" Daniel exclaimed, thrilled to find someone who loved coffee just as much as he did. "I have to restock. Maxwell House is my go-to, but have you ever heard of Death Wish Coffee?"

"I have! I've always wanted to try it. It has way more caffeine than just a regular cup of coffee, and—" Sam broke off when Jack snorted out a laugh. She looked over at him, her eyes narrowing, and he did nothing to hide the fact that he had been laughing at her. "What?"

Jack shook his head, but he was still grinning at her. "Nothing. It's just that I'd never thought I'd meet someone who was as much of a geek about coffee as Daniel is. Although…" He grew thoughtful and tapped his chin with the fingers of his free hand. "It does make sense. Since, you know. Geek." Jack gestured to Daniel, who rolled his eyes. "And geek." He gestured to Sam next, his grin turning into a smirk.

Sam's eyes narrowed further. As they continued to walk towards the entrance to the mountain, Sam tried her best not to react to Jack's teasing. It was obvious that he was trying to push her buttons, but there was something else in his voice. Could it be… affection? There was no way.

It was true that, in the month since Sam had been declared fully healed from her incident with the alien orb (and had been able to get rid of that stupid sling), SG-1 had been spending a lot of their free time on base in her lab. Now that they had been officially introduced, SG-1 had often made sure that Sam got first dibs on whatever alien technology they brought back. She had to admit, there were perks to being friends with the flagship team on the SGC.

When Jack ended up in her lab, however, it typically wasn't to talk about her findings on whatever bit of technology they had brought back—unless it did something cool, of course. He generally fiddled with whatever he could get his hands on, and asked her random questions.

Even though he was hanging around her lab, that didn't mean he liked her well enough for that little bit of affection… did it?

Sam pushed those thoughts away from her mind and tuned back into the conversation just in time to hear Daniel say, "You know, Jack, you drink just as much coffee as the rest of us. It's not like you have a lot of room to talk."

"Ah, yes. But I'm not picky about my coffee, the way you and the good doctor appear to be. I'll drink any coffee, anywhere, any time. So, you know…"

Sam wrinkled her nose. "You drink that stuff that commissary calls coffee?" Sam didn't consider herself to be high-maintenance, but she liked certain things to be a certain way. Her coffee was one of things that she readily admitted she was a snob about, and she only drank the stuff in the commissary when she was desperate. Which had happened more times than she wanted to admit, hence the need for her own coffee maker.

"Like I said," Jack told her. "I don't care where my coffee comes from, as long as I have it."

Daniel began to explain—in depth—the difference between a good cup of coffee and a bad one. Sipping from her own cup of (excellent) coffee, Sam smiled as she followed the two men into the mountain.

* * *

"Morning, Doctor Carter."

Sam pulled her cup of coffee away from her mouth as she turned away from the elevator doors. She'd been waiting on the top level for an elevator car for the past few minutes, but Sam didn't mind too much. It gave her some extra time to enjoy her morning cup of coffee before she headed down to her lab and got asked a million questions by the small team of scientists she had been put in charge of.

Jack O'Neill was standing behind her, his hands tucked into the pockets of his worn jeans. It was obvious that he was just arriving on base as well, since he was still wearing his civilian clothes. Perhaps it was just because she didn't have enough caffeine in her system yet, but Sam allowed herself a brief moment to appreciate the way Jack O'Neill looked in those jeans and his plaid, button-down shirt.

Once she realized what she was doing, Sam cleared her throat and tried to hide her face behind her coffee cup. She seriously hoped Jack hadn't caught her checking him out. With the coffee cup obscuring her face, she missed the lopsided grin that formed on his lips.

"Good morning, Colonel O'Neill," Sam returned in greeting when she felt that her cheeks were no longer red.

"I thought I told you to call me Jack," he said as he reached forward and pressed the down button on the elevator panel.

"Then call me Sam," she told him. Her father had been in the military, after all. It had been ingrained in her to call military personnel by their proper rank.

An amused smile played on her lips as she watched Jack press the down button again, pause, and then press it three more times in quick succession. He looked over his shoulder and caught her smiling at him, and this time, Sam didn't bother to try and hide it.

"I already pressed the button to call the elevator, you know."

"I saw that," Jack said. "But don't you know that pressing it multiple times gets the elevator here faster?"

Sam laughed outright at that and took another sip of her coffee. "I'm pretty sure that's not how it works."

Of course, at that moment, the elevator ding and the doors slid open. Jack smiled triumphantly at her, and Sam rolled her eyes as they stepped into the elevator. That look was entirely too smug, and the comment was out of Sam's mouth before she could stop herself.

"You know, the elevator didn't come just because you pressed the button a million times," Sam pointed out as she sipped at her coffee.

Instead of responding, Jack caught sight of the coffee cup Sam had raised to her mouth. "Hey, isn't that from the same please you told me and Daniel about last week?"

"Um… yes," Sam said.

"You stopped there again before work?"

"Yes," Sam said again. "Why do you ask?"

Jack shrugged his shoulders and gave her an innocent look. "No reason. I'm just saying." Another beat of silence passed, and then he asked, "Do you get regular coffee. Or do you get one of those things with the milk and stuff?"

"…The milk and stuff?" Sam repeated as her smile grew. "You mean a latte?"

"Yeah. That."

"Uh, no. I just drink regular coffee from the café. It really is the best coffee I've ever had." She held the cup out to him. "Do you want to try it?"

Jack eyed the cup warily. "Are you one of those people that put a lot of cream and sugar in your coffee?"

"What's wrong with people who put creamer in their coffee?" Sam demanded defensively. "Let me guess, you're one of _those people_ that drink their coffee black, right?"

Of course, Jack didn't take the bait. "I knew it, Carter. You drown your coffee in creamer and sugar."

Ignoring the way he called her by her last name, Sam said, "I do not put sugar in my coffee." She paused, and Jack's eyebrow rose—clearly, he knew that she had more to add. "And I don't drown it in creamer, either."

"But you do put creamer in it."

"So what if I do?"

"Nothing. It's just—" Jack stopped talking abruptly, suddenly realizing why he was teasing Sam about her coffee. It was because he thought it was _cute_ that she put creamer in her coffee. He didn't know why, but he actually thought it was _cute_.

When did Jack O'Neill start thinking things were _cute_?

Instead of continuing to tease Sam, Jack asked, "Can I try it?"

Grinning, Sam passed over the warm cup of coffee. Jack took a sip, pleasantly surprised by the fact that the taste of the coffee wasn't drowned out by the touch of cream Sam had put in it. Even though Jack would drink just about any coffee put in front of him, he did have to admit that the coffee from Karen's Café was pretty good.

"It's not bad," Jack said as he handed the cup back to Sam.

It was Sam's turn to look smug. "Told you so."

* * *

Furrowing her brow, Sam tapped her pen against her lips as she paced back and forth in front of her work bench. She paused just long enough to take a sip from her coffee cup, and then she went back to pacing as she started muttering about the latest alien device that SG-1 had brought back.

Sam had only been on base for about ten minutes, but she couldn't resist getting started on trying to figure out this newest piece of alien technology. Sam was almost positive that it was some kind of shield device, but she had yet to figure out what it was actually supposed to shield, let alone how to turn it on.

There was a single knock on the frame that the blast door fit into, and Sam looked up, coffee cup and pen still in hand, to find Jack O'Neill standing there.

Her heart stuttered in her chest, and Sam couldn't even begin to understand that particular response, so she pushed it aside and took another long gulp of coffee to cover her response. "Colonel O'Neill, what can I do for you?"

Jack reached for a wrench that had been set aside on her work bench and started to flip it back and forth between his hands. "I thought I told you to call me Jack."

"Right. Jack." Sam wasn't about to admit that she called him Colonel O'Neill only when she was embarrassed about the fact she had checked him out. "Did you need something?"

Jack knew that it was first thing in the morning and that there was no way she had enough time to look at the device they had brought back only thirty-six hours ago. But he had a hunch, and he needed to know if he was right. Thus, the early morning visit to Sam Carter's lab.

"Just wanted to see what progress you've made with this thingy," Jack said as he reached over and tapped the square-shaped device. To his amused surprise, Sam slapped his hand away. As soon as she did it, she looked up at him with wide, blue eyes. Clearly, she was just as shocked as he was by her knee-jerk response.

Sam smiled apologetically instead of actually saying anything. Instead, she turned her focus to Jack's question. "I've only been here for ten minutes. I think I've found the on switch, but… that's about it." She reached for her cup of coffee and drank from it again. She was going to need the extra caffeine if she was going to test this weird alien shield device. Sam had, admittedly, been a little gun shy about testing alien devices since she had been pinned to the wall via a spear through her shoulder by one.

Instead of responding to that, Jack's eyes were on the coffee cup still in Sam's hand. "Sam… isn't that coffee from the same place you told me and Daniel about three weeks ago?"

Sam recognized where this conversation was going, and she wasn't about to admit her secret guilty pleasure to Jack O'Neill. She wasn't going to give in. "So what if it is?"

Well, that sounded more defensive than she had wanted it to. Jack smirked at her, and Sam somehow knew that she had given him the exact response that he wanted. When Jack tucked his hands into his pockets and rocked back on his heels, Sam knew that there was probably no coming back from this.

With that same self-satisfied smirk on his face, Jack said, "Nothing. It's just something that I've noticed, that's all."

* * *

"Sam, I can't thank you enough for this." Daniel pulled the coffee cup towards him and inhaled the heady aroma. "I haven't been able to make it to the café yet. You've saved my life."

Sam laughed and took a sip from her own cup. "Daniel, I've told you before. It's no problem for me to get you a cup. I'm stopping there anyway. If you want a cup, just let me know."

Together, they walked towards her lab. They'd been studying a device that SG-12 had brought back—Daniel had been working on the translations, and Sam was trying to figure out how to turn off the defensive shocks the device emitted whenever someone got within six inches of the thing.

"How many different roasts do they have?" Daniel asked.

"Some are holiday roasts, and some are seasonal, but they have about twelve roasts that I know of," Sam told Daniel. They turned the corner into her lab, and neither Sam nor Daniel was surprised to find Jack already there.

"Roasts? Roasts for what?" Jack's eyes narrowed. "You guys weren't talking about coffee, were you?"

"We were, Jack," Daniel confirmed with a long-suffering sigh. "What other kind of roast would we be talking about?"

Jack shrugged his shoulders and fiddled with a radiation detector that he had found on one of the many shelves lining Sam's lab. "You could be talking about roasting a chicken. Or a turkey. Or a person, for that matter."

"Roasting a _person_?" Daniel's eyebrow flew up towards his hairline, while Sam looked between the two men with wide eyes. "Jack, what the hell are you talking about?"

"You know, _roasting_ someone." When he still got blank looks from Sam and Daniel, Jack rolled his eyes. "Making fun of someone? Haven't you ever watched Comedy Central?"

"Jack." Daniel's meaning was plain: he had known Daniel for over three years. Of course Jack knew that Daniel didn't go out of his way to watch Comedy Central.

"Not really," Sam added. "I watch a lot of Food Network, though."

"Food Network?" That caught Jack's attention, as it just added another facet of cuteness to Samantha Carter. "Really?"

Sam's cheeks flushed, and she toyed with the protective sleeve on her cup of coffee. "I like to watch it in the mornings." Sam was a firm believer that no matter what anyone else said, everyone had a soft spot for the Barefoot Contessa. Good vanilla, and all that.

"We're talking about _coffee_ ," Daniel reiterated. "As in, this really good cup of coffee." Daniel held up the white travel cup of coffee, identical to the one Jack had seen Sam with multiple times.

"Oh, of course you're talking about _coffee_." Jack waved his hands and gave the same emphasis to the word "coffee" that Daniel had, only with mocking. "As in, coffee from Karen's Café?"

"That's the place," Daniel confirmed. He didn't miss the way that Sam was looking at Jack with narrowed eyes, but also with a small smile playing on her lips. He looked between Sam and Jack, his brow furrowed, and then the realization hit him. Of course, by that point, Sam and Jack were already carrying on.

"You seem to visit that place a lot," Jack said casually.

"It's right by my house, and I like the coffee," Sam stated. She crossed her arms over her chest in a clearly defensive position. "What, is that a problem?"

"Of course not." There was a grin on Jack's face as he put the radiation detector down and leaned over Sam's work bench, his palms pressed flat to the surface. "I'm just saying, there's a perfectly good commissary two floors up. They have coffee."

Sam very nearly pouted at Jack, but she managed to school her expression. "That coffee is disgusting. So sue me if I want to drink something actually consumable for the rest of the human population."

Jack grinned but didn't say anything else, feeling that he had made his point. Daniel raised his coffee cup in a salute towards Sam, as if that settled the whole discussion.

* * *

"So be honest." Once again, Jack had cornered Sam by the elevators on the surface. She had already pressed the call button, and Jack had pressed it another fifteen times for good measure. "Do you stop at Karen's Café every morning to get that cup of coffee?"

Sam stared down at the white cup with the black script in her hand. She looked back up at Jack, who was grinning at her, his amber eyes twinkling with something that was part mischief, and part something that she couldn't quite put a name to. Seeing him grin at her like that did something funny to her stomach, so she returned her attention to the coffee cup.

Sighing, Sam decided to admit the truth. "Yes. Yes, I stop at the café every morning." Seeing his smirk broaden, Sam got defensive once again. "I like my coffee, okay?"

Sam was expecting him to make fun of her, he could tell. For some reason, he wanted to surprise her instead. Even though Jack knew it was a bad idea, he asked instead, "Can I come with you tomorrow?"

Sam blinked at him. "Really? You want to come with me?"

Jack shrugged his shoulders. "Yeah, why not? You like coffee, Daniel likes coffee. Seems like the perfect place to get a gift when birthdays and Christmas roll around."

Sam knew that Jack was really talking about getting Daniel a gift. Still, he had included her in the statement anyway, and that made something warm spread through Sam's belly. She smiled at him and held the cup of coffee up. "Yeah. I can take you."

* * *

The next morning, Jack stood with Sam in the middle of Karen's Café.

Sam was dressed for work, wearing her customary button-down shirt and pencil skirt. Jack, on the other hand, looked like the picture of comfort in his jeans and black leather jacket. In fact, that leather jacket was downright criminal, and Sam was trying her hardest not to look too much at it… or at the man wearing it.

"Good morning, Sam!" Karen Scott greeted as she passed Sam her customary cup of coffee. It was prepared exactly the way that Sam liked, since she had been there often enough for the owner to know just how she liked her coffee.

Naturally, Karen noticed the man standing behind Sam. With the messy brown hair that was starting to go silver just the tiniest bit, the broad shoulders, the amber eyes, and the leather jacket, it was hard not to notice Jack O'Neill. And that was without knowing the whole Air Force with the potential for Dress Blues thing.

"Who's your friend?" Karen asked with a sly grin. She certainly hadn't reacted that way when Daniel finally made it to the café with Sam the previous week. In fact, Karen had been convinced that she and Daniel were siblings, which made Sam strangely happy. Seeing Karen react to Jack like this made her happy as well, but in a completely different way, and it was a way that Sam wasn't quite willing to dissect.

"This is Colonel Jack O'Neill," Sam introduced. She couldn't help adding his rank, because it somehow made Jack hotter, in Sam's opinion. Given Karen's appreciative look, she obviously agreed with Sam.

"Sam, if you keep bringing cute men here, my employees aren't going to know what to do," Karen told her. Naturally, that made Jack grin like the Cheshire Cat. Sam, on the other hand, rolled her eyes and said the one thing guaranteed to deflate Jack.

"Then I better not introduce you to Murray, then." Sam sent a mischievous smile Jack's way. They had told Sam about Teal'c's Earth codename several weeks ago, and Sam relished the chance to use it while teasing Jack at the same time. "God only knows what you'd do then."

Jack grumbled under his breath, but he accepted the cup of coffee that Karen had prepared for him without comment. Karen considered herself something of a coffee connoisseur, and was able to know what her customers wanted before they asked for it. When Jack took a sip, he was pleasantly surprised to find a rich dark roast, black, with one sugar. He took another sip and nodded his head approvingly. Sam was right; this really was the best coffee ever.

From the self-satisfied look on Sam's face, she knew it. Crossing her arms over her chest, she shared a look with Karen before she (once again) said to Jack, "Told you so."

* * *

 **five.**

Samantha Carter was never late to work.

She planned her days out. She packed her lunch and had at least some idea of what she wanted to wear the next day before she went to bed. She set her alarm early enough to get a run and a shower in before work, and built in time during her commute to stop at Karen's Café. She even built in an extra buffer of time to make sure that she was never late.

On this particular day, Sam was over an hour late to work.

Things were going just fine. She woke up, had her run, took her shower, and ate her breakfast. She stopped to get her coffee, and even got drinks for the rest of SG-1 as well (the boys had really taken to Karen's coffee. Daniel and Jack enjoyed the freshly brewed coffee, like Sam did. To Sam's surprise, Kawalsky liked the breakfast smoothies, while Teal'c was partial to the hot chocolate). Once she got on the road, it seemed like she hit every obstacle possible to keep her from getting to the SGC on time.

There was roadwork that delayed her for fifteen minutes. There was an accident on the highway that took her forty-five minutes to get through. Then, of all things, there were geese crossing the road that kept her sitting in the same spot for twenty minutes.

By the time she had gotten to the SGC, Sam was well and truly annoyed. She had already made it through her own cup of coffee, and had worked her way through half of Jack's (she knew better than to get between Daniel and his coffee. Besides, Sam knew that Jack wouldn't mind… that much, anyway). Muttering under the breath, Sam slammed her car door once she had climbed out. She refrained from stomping to the other side, but she did violently yank her bag and the drink carrier out of the passenger side.

Still peeved at the fact that she was now late to work, Sam barely noticed that the guard that signed her in seemed a little… off. She got into the elevator (that actually got there the first time she pressed the call button), and then walked briskly through the hallway once she got to level 17. The further she walked, however, the more she noticed the overly intense stares she was getting from every person she passed.

Getting a weird vibe, Sam slowed her pace slightly and forced herself not to run the last few feet to her lab. She entered as if it were any other day and tried to resist the urge to close the blast door behind her. Something wasn't right.

Someone grabbed her arm and yanked her fully into the lab. What was left of the coffee and the rest of the drinks tumbled to the ground, and the scream that was halfway out of Sam's mouth was cut off when a large hand clapped over it. It took her a moment, but Sam realized that it was Teal'c.

They stayed absolutely still as a couple of SFs passed by the lab. Once they had rounded the corner and were well out of earshot, Teal'c slowly released Sam. She tried to catch her breath as she stared at him, a hand pressed to her chest as she stared at the spilled coffee on her lab floor.

Sam understood the need for secrecy at this moment, even though she didn't know why. "What the hell is going on?" she demanded.

"There is a situation," Teal'c told her in his deep, calm voice. "The SGC has been compromised. We have been infiltrated by aliens."

Sam could only blink at Teal'c in surprise. Her mouth opened and closed several times, and it gave Teal'c the perfect opportunity to explain the situation to Sam in its entirety. SG-1 had returned from a mission, had gone for their post mission physicals, and had promptly been knocked out. Teal'c saw the aliens plotting with people that he believed were posing as Dr. Frasier and General Hammond, and he had video from the security cameras to prove it.

"Holy Hannah," Sam breathed when Teal'c hit the pause button on the video. The aliens looked unlike any that Sam had read about in previous reports, but that was neither here nor there. The point was, there was a foothold situation in the SGC, and it appeared that she and Teal'c were the only ones who were unaffected.

Teal'c arched an eyebrow. "Indeed."

Sam stared at the computer screen with wide eyes. "That explains why the elevator got to the surface the first time I called it." Both of Teal'c's eyebrows went up then, but Sam waved her hand. It only really made sense to her that aliens would make the elevators in the SGC more efficient. "What are we supposed to do?"

Teal'c handed her a small slip of paper, along with a zat. Sam stared at the alien weapon in her hands. She knew exactly how a zat worked, and she knew exactly what it did. That didn't stop her from being a little uneasy with being handed one, however.

"This is a list of contacts of those outside of the SGC that you might be able to contact," Teal'c told her as he indicated the piece of paper. "Something must be done, and we can only get help outside of the SGC."

"Wait, the list of people that _I_ might be able to contact?" Sam gaped at the Jaffa. "What, you're not coming with me?"

"I am not," Teal'c told her calmly. His gaze was steady, and strangely reassuring despite the suddenly terrifying situation they found themselves in. "I am going to make sure that you get out of the SGC, so that you might be able to procure aide for us."

"Teal'c, I…" She scanned the list before she tucked it into the pocket of her jacket. She wished that she had worn pants today. "What's going to happen to you after that?"

The corners of Teal'c's mouth lifted up in his version of a smile. "I will be fine, Dr. Carter."

They moved quickly after that. Teal'c led Sam to one of the escape hatches that led up to the surface. After Sam got a look at the ladder she was expected to climb, she really wished she had worn pants. With a sigh, she slipped off her heels and tucked them into her purse so that she could easily climb up the ladder.

Was it impractical to bring her purse with her as she was trying to escape from a top secret military facility? Probably. Still, she needed to bring it, because how else was she going to pay for the plane ticket that she needed to buy to get to DC? On that note, she really hoped that the SGC was going to reimburse her for this sure to be expensive, last minute plane ticket.

With her hands on the rungs above her head, she paused before her long climb up to the top of the mountain. Teal'c was standing guard at the entrance to the hatch, checking to make sure that no one was coming. He inclined his head once, indicating for Sam to begin climbing the latter.

"Teal'c…" Sam began, but she stopped talking when she couldn't think of anything to say. The seriousness of the situation hadn't really set in for her just yet. The adrenaline pumping through her would hopefully be enough to stave off the inevitable panic attack she was sure to have.

"Are you sure that you're going to be okay?" Sam said once she found her voice again. She knew that it was stupid to try and stay and offer Teal'c help. She'd more of a hindrance, really. Besides, Teal'c was a Jaffa with extraordinary abilities. He had been able to stay undiscovered long enough to get her out of the SGC, so Sam had to believe that he'd stay safe until she could go and get help.

Teal'c peered out into the hallway and held up his hand to silence Sam. She held her breath, and then she heard it: footsteps. Someone was coming, and now Sam would only have a limited time to escape.

"You must go, Dr. Carter," Teal'c urged. "Do not worry about me. I will take care of things here."

Sam nodded her head and squeezed Teal'c's shoulder once before she began to climb the ladder. Teal'c shut the hatch behind her, leaving her with nothing but the narrow beam of light from her flashlight.

All in all, it was actually probably a good thing that she had been late to work today.

* * *

The fear set in on the plane.

Sam had managed to find a red eye to DC, and it had cost nearly a thousand dollars for the last minutes flight. There were bigger things to worry about at the moment, so Sam had handed over her credit card without balking at the price.

They were nearly to DC when Sam's heart started to thud painfully in her chest. She gripped the armrests tightly and tried to breathe deeply. The SGC had been overrun by aliens, and the only people who were unaffected were her and Teal'c. If they managed to get out before Sam could get help on time… she didn't want to think about those consequences.

Not for the first time, the thoughts of her friends—Janet, Daniel, Kawalsky, Teal'c, General Hammond… Jack—tugged at her heart. Sam had no idea what had happened to them, or where they were, but she had to believe that they weren't dead. There was no other option, and dwelling on a negative outcome would only serve to make her more anxious.

Oddly enough, Sam was comforted by the fact that it was Teal'c she had ended up in this situation with. It was common knowledge just how Teal'c ended up on SG-1; on their first mission after Abydos, SG-1 and SG-2 had gone to Chulak and had been captured. Teal'c had been the one to save them, after Jack had convinced him. Teal'c was a hero and had become invaluable to the SGC, both as an asset and as a person. Sam figured that if there was anyone to be stuck in a foothold situation in the SGC with, Teal'c was her best bet. She respected the man immensely.

The entire fate of the SGC—of the planet, really—rested on Sam's ability to get to DC and find help from one of the people on the list that Teal'c had given her. Sam only recognized a few of the names, and she readily admitted that she didn't know anything about the people listed. So Sam had picked the first name on the list and was hoping for the best. She was putting a lot of faith in this Colonel Harry Maybourne.

As her breath evened out, Sam closed her eyes and leaned her head back against the seat. She would much rather be pinned to the wall in the Gate Room again instead of dealing with something like this.

* * *

Given that the rest of her day had been turned into complete shit, Sam really shouldn't have been surprised that her Plan A hadn't worked out.

Colonel Harry Maybourne was an utter asshole.

He had outright accused Sam of lying once she managed to get a hold of him on the telephone. Sam had gaped at the phone in her hand for a full ten seconds before she pressed it back to her ear and explained the specifics of the foothold situation, along with how Teal'c had sent her to find help

It was only then that Maybourne had agreed to meet with Sam. He made it sound like some big hardship, to meet with one of the many scientists that worked at the SGC. Sam resented that, and the implication that she was lying just because she was a scientist.

Running her hands with her disheveled hair, Sam tried to smooth out the wrinkles in her skirt and shirt as she walked into the restaurant. The climb up from base of the mountain and the long flight had really done a number on her, and Sam knew that she looked less than presentable at the moment.

She spotted the man she was supposed to meet sitting at a table out in the open. He was dressed in uniform, making him easy for Sam to identify him, and it had appeared that he had already ordered some food for himself. Sam's stomach growled, reminding her that she hadn't eaten anything in hours, but she pushed those feelings away. Squaring her shoulders, Sam crossed the restaurant and stopped in front of the table.

"Colonel Maybourne," she greeted tensely.

Maybourne greeted her with a smarmy smile, and he looked exactly as Sam expected him to: like a rat bastard. "Dr. Carter."

Sam dropped into the chair opposite from Maybourne and gratefully accepted the offer of coffee from the waitress. Maybourne at least had the decency to wait for the coffee to be delivered before he began to speak.

"So. There's a foothold situation at the SGC, and you came to the one person that those in the SGC trust the very least."

Sam almost choked on her mouthful of coffee. She coughed and managed to swallow as she stared at the man sitting across from her with wide eyes. He really was a rat bastard. "Who the hell do you work for?" she demanded. This day couldn't possibly get any worse, and Sam was beginning to get very, very angry with herself for not picking a different name on the list.

Maybourne smirked at her. "I work for the NID. I know you haven't worked at the SGC for very long, but you do know what the NID is, don't you?"

Oh, Sam knew exactly what the NID was. She may have worked at Area 51 before being transferred to the SGC, but she hadn't lived under a rock. The rumor mill at the SGC spread far and wide, and Sam was aware that the NID had caused nothing but trouble for the good men and women of the SGC.

"Shit," Sam breathed. She took another long swallow of coffee and tried to just roll with it. This was merely an obstacle; there had to be a way for her to get some help. "Well, we had no way of knowing how far up the chain of command the infiltration goes. It could even go as far up as General Hammond—"

"He sounded fine when I spoke to him on the phone," Maybourne interrupted. He calmly took a bite from his sandwich and then sat back in his chair.

Sam gaped at him. The exhaustion and the stress of the situation she found herself in made it hard for her to come up with a response. When she could finally speak, she could manage a strangled, "… _What_?"

"He called me, Dr. Carter. He's just concerned for you, that's all."

Sam might not have been in the military, but she had worked at the SGC for over seven months. Besides that, she had spent three years at Area 51, and she had also grown up with a general for a father. She had at least some idea of how military protocol went, and she couldn't believe Harry Maybourne's blatant disregard for it.

"I told you that there was a foothold situation!" Sam struggled to keep her voice from getting too loud, but it was becoming nearly impossible to keep herself in check.

"No offense, Dr. Carter, but you're not exactly qualified to make the claim. Besides, I think that a chemical spill causing paranoid delusions is far more likely than aliens taking over the SGC."

Sam dragged her hands through her messy, shoulder-length hair. "Chemical spill? What the hell are you talking about?" She pressed her fingers to her temples and wished that today had been easier. "Don't you think I can tell the difference between the two? I saw the footage! I know what happened!"

Maybourne simply stared at Sam. Unable to take it anymore, Sam knew that she had to leave, otherwise she would end up dumping her cup of coffee over Maybourne's head. She slapped the table and stood up, shaking her head as she turned to leave.

"What the hell was I thinking?" she muttered to herself. Sam had only taken two steps before two very familiar people stepped into her path, blocking her way out.

Jack O'Neill smiled at her. "Well hey there, Dr. Carter." Daniel was standing next to him, and he smiled at her and gave him a little wave.

Sam's mouth dropped open and she stared at him for a full ten seconds before she whipped her hands around and leaned over the table, glaring darkly at the older man. She was pleased to see Maybourne shrink back a little.

"Maybourne, you must be an idiot every day of the week," Sam seethed. "Why couldn't you have taken just one day off?"

"Come on now, Dr. Carter." Jack stepped forward and patted Sam's back. Sam was surprised to feel herself tense under his touch. "Why don't we just sit down and… relax?"

Maybourne scowled at Sam and then turned that angry look towards Jack. "Your doctor is out of line, Colonel O'Neill."

"Cut her some slack," Jack told Maybourne dismissively. "She's not exactly herself right now."

"Colonel O'Neill, what exactly does that mean?" Sam snapped. She didn't care how angry she wounded at the moment. Something about this whole situation just wasn't sitting right with her.

Jack just smiled at her, and Daniel answered instead. "It's the chemical, Sam," he said. "There was a tetrachloroethylene spill on level 23. You were probably affected as soon as you got on that level, Sam."

"But…" Sam shook her head and covered her face with her hands. "I was late to work today. I never even made it down to level 23."

Daniel smiled sympathetically at her and patted her hand. "You probably don't remember this, but Janet wanted to meet you down there this morning."

Sam still wasn't convinced, and it was obvious. Jack asked, "What are the side effects of this tetrachloro-whatever stuff?"

Propping her elbows up onto the table and dropping her head into her hands, Sam sighed heavily. "Hallucination, delusion—"

"Paranoid delusion," Jack added. "But go on."

"Look, I know what I saw!" Sam exclaimed. She stared at Jack, unable to believe that he was talking to her like this. She remembered the way that he had been so kind and understanding with her while she had been pinned to the wall by that alien orb. This wasn't the Jack O'Neill that she had gotten to know over the past few months.

"We know exactly how you feel, Sam," Daniel said soothingly. "We had just come back from a mission, and we were affected the moment we got on the elevator. Teal'c was still suffering from the chemical, and that's why he was so insistent on getting you out of the mountain."

Sam swallowed hard. "How is Teal'c?" she asked quietly.

"Fine," Jack said. "He beat the crap out of some SFs when he broke you out, but he's fine."

"Trust us," Daniel said. "Come back to the SGC with us."

Daniel looked so sure and honest, and Sam was so tired. There was still an uneasy feeling her stomach, but Harry Maybourne was sitting there, watching her expectantly. Could it really have all been in her head? Was this all just some hallucination?

Seeing her indecision, Daniel pressed on. "It's wearing off, isn't it? You're starting to think clearly now."

Sam sighed heavily and closed her eyes once again. Her stomach growled, but she reached for the coffee in lieu of food. This day just needed to be over.

"I fully intend to go back with you," Maybourne added, as if that was supposed to reassure her. "Just to make sure that everything is alright."

Through the rumor mill, Sam knew just how SG-1—and Jack O'Neill in particular—felt about the NID. She swung her head towards him, staring at him with wide eyes. "And you're okay with this?" When Jack just smiled at her, Sam shot a look at Maybourne. "Shouldn't that tell you something?"

"I wouldn't tell them where we were meeting until they agreed to let me go back to the SGC," Maybourne told her, as if that explained it all. Maybe it did, but there was still something that wasn't sitting right with Sam.

"Let's go back, Dr. Carter," Jack said. "The doc will check you out and make sure everything is okay, and then we can put this whole thing behind us." He watched Sam until she reluctantly nodded her head. "Great!" Jack clapped his hands as he stood up. "The plane is waiting."

They all stood up at the same time, and Jack put his hand on the small of her back as they walked out of the restaurant. Sam let it remain there for exactly three seconds before she pulled away under the pretense of looking for something in her purse. Jack's touch hadn't elicited the warm tingles it normally had. Instead, she just felt... wrong.

* * *

Of course, Maybourne had a private jet waiting to take them back to the SGC. The accommodations were definitely better than the flight Sam had taken to get to DC, and she had to resist the urge to lie down on the cushy couch and fall asleep.

Daniel was speaking to a flight attendant about getting some food, and Maybourne was talking to Jack up at the front. Sam took note of the sidearm Maybourne had tucked into a holster at the back of his pants, and she wondered why Maybourne felt the need to arm himself on the plane that he himself had chartered.

Jack and Maybourne joined her over at the seating area. Maybourne stayed on his feet, while Jack lounged back on the couch next to Sam. She tried to resist the urge to tense and move away from, which was odd, given her previous reactions to Jack O'Neill. Sam normally found herself drawn to Jack O'Neill, instead of the opposite.

Something wasn't right.

Sam sat forward, watching Jack carefully out of the corner of her eye. It took a few moments, but she finally saw it: a flicker.

The image of Jack turned into one of the aliens Sam had seen on the security feed. It was like something out of _Star Wars_ , but the slightly amusing comparison wasn't enough to keep Sam from jumping up and away from the thing impersonating Jack O'Neill.

Without thinking, Sam grabbed the gun sticking out of holster at Maybourne's back. She leveled it at Jack and turned the safety off with a slightly jerky movement. Her stance was uncomfortable and clearly unpracticed, but the barrel of the gun was still aimed dead center at Jack's chest. Everyone stared in surprise at Sam, including Maybourne; but then Jack's imagine flickered again, and Maybourne's eyes grew wide as he stepped back.

"Dr. Carter, put the gun down," the not-Jack ordered softly.

Sam mutely shook her head and tried her hardest to stop her hands from shaking. That was not Jack, no matter how much it might look like him. Something very odd was happening, and it looked like Maybourne was finally seeing that Sam was telling the truth about the foothold situation.

There was a long beat of silence, and the engine of the plane roared again, coinciding with another flicker of Jack's image turning into the alien. Maybourne and Carter gaped, and the not-Jack took advantage of the momentary distraction and leapt up.

Now, Sam didn't claim to be proficient with a gun. She hadn't touched one in years, not because she didn't want to—it was more that she just had a complete lack of interest in learning how to hone her skills with a firearm. Having a father in the military (along with many other family members), Sam had been taught how to properly handle a gun, and knew how to fire one… but that didn't mean she was good at it.

In that moment, as the alien posing as Jack O'Neill lunged towards her, Sam squared her shoulders and squeezed the trigger. The first bullet flew wide, but Sam quickly adjusted her aim and fired twice more. This time, the bullets embedded themselves into the alien: one in the shoulder, and one in the stomach. The image of Jack O'Neill flickered away, leaving the alien. Purple blood spread from his wounds, and it gave a twitch before stilling completely.

"What the hell is that thing?" Maybourne demanded.

Breathing hard, Sam lowered the gun and handed it back to Maybourne. Over the pounding of her heart in her ears, she said, "I told you we had a foothold situation."

* * *

The Daniel Jackson that was with them was an alien too, naturally. Sam was highly interested in the mimic technology that she had found, but she'd have to keep that interest for a later date. They had to go save everyone at the SGC, first.

Maybourne had proven that he was, in fact, just himself by cutting the heel of his hand and showing his blood to Sam. An uneasy alliance had been created between them, and Sam had come up with a tentative plan to interrupt the signal from the aliens' technology so that the team Maybourne was sending in could tell the difference between who was alien and who was human.

Sam pressed the small disc that acted as the mimic device into the palm of her hand, and tried not to think about how weird it was that she now looked like Daniel Jackson. This was another part of the plan that they had agreed on, and it was risky, to say the least: Sam was going to use the mimic technology to get into the SGC, so she could go to her lab and recreate the interference that had interrupted the signal in the first place. Maybourne was going to be waiting for his team so that he could lead them in.

It was dangerous and risky as hell, but there was nothing else that she could do. Taking a deep breath, Sam began the long descent back into the mountain.

The climb down didn't take nearly as long as the climb up had. Sam entered on level 17, but almost immediately had to dive into a storage room when she heard footsteps coming down the hallway. She spun around, only to find a gun being leveled in her face… by Jack O'Neill.

"Colonel O'Neill?" Sam breathed as she tried to catch her breath. "Is it really you?" She looked up, catching sight of all of the SGC personnel suspended by the ceiling from some weird harnesses.

"…Yes," Jack said. He gestured to her. "And you are…?"

"Oh! Right!" Opening the palm of her left hand, Sam pulled off the mimic device. She had forgotten that she looked like Daniel. She saw Jack relax, and she let out a sigh of relief. She knew that this man was the _real_ Jack O'Neill. "It's good to see you, Colonel O'Neill."

Jack waved his free hand, and one side of his mouth tipped up in his version of a smile. "How many times have I told you to call me Jack?"

For the first time in thirty-six hours, a wide, true smile spread across Sam's lips.

* * *

 **six.**

Sam had successfully recreated the tone that had interrupted the alien device's signal, which made it easier once Maybourne's team had infiltrated the SGC. The aliens had all gathered in the Gate Room, and some had even escaped through the Stargate before they timed a self destruct on themselves.

Sam was part of the debriefing this time, which was a new experience for her. Even she had been pinned to the wall by the alien orb, she hadn't had to sit through a debriefing. Sam had been in the infirmary for that part, which was probably the only time that she'd ever be thankful for actually being in the infirmary.

Sam and Teal'c led the majority of the debriefing, with input from Maybourne. Once the story was out in the open, nearly every occupant in the room was gaping at the three of them. Of course, Jack was the first one to speak.

"Alright, two things: first, how the hell did Maybourne get involved in this? And secondly…" His gaze swiveled towards Sam. "You _shot_ me?"

"It wasn't you!" Sam exclaimed hotly. "It was an alien, and I—" She stopped speaking abruptly, afraid of what else she might say. Her whole body was aching, she was exhausted, and she just wanted a shower. Her emotions were too on edge, and it was beginning to show. Slumping back in her seat, Sam crossed her arms over her chest. "Ask Teal'c about why Maybourne is here," she mumbled.

"T?" Both Jack and Daniel looked at their Jaffa friend with wide eyes, while Kawalsky just snorted and shook his head. " _You're_ the one who called Maybourne?"

"I did not," Teal'c said evenly. "I merely provided Dr. Carter with a list of people outside of the SGC who might be able to help us. I left it up to her as to whom she would contact."

Sam shrugged her shoulders unapologetically. "I picked the first name on the list."

"She held her own with me," Maybourne added, with what could only be called a pout. "She called me an idiot."

"Did you really?" Jack looked at Sam with newfound respect, and something else twinkling in his eyes. "Sweet."

That got a smile out of Sam, while General Hammond looked at Jack with a mildly exasperated look. Jack didn't notice, since he was too busy returning Sam's smile. Daniel picked up on it and shared a look with Teal'c, who of course had already drawn his own conclusions about the interactions between Jack and Sam. Kawalsky, meanwhile, was unsuccessfully attempting to hide his laughter.

"Well, I think it's safe to say that Teal'c and Dr. Carter did exactly the right thing in this very difficult situation," General Hammond said. He nodded approvingly at both of them. "Excellent work, people."

With the briefing over, General Hammond dismissed them. Daniel claimed that he had a lot of work to catch up on, since he hadn't exactly worked being captured by aliens for nearly forty-eight hours into his schedule. Teal'c left to kel'noreem, and Jack stayed behind to speak with General Hammond and Maybourne before the colonel from the NID returned to Washington.

So Sam headed back down to her lab, but she wasn't sure how much work she would get done. The exhaustion was creeping up on her more than it had before, and Sam was certain that she might very well pass out. She needed sleep, food, and then more sleep, in that order.

Sam had only been in her lab for about ten minutes before there was a gentle knock on her door. When Sam looked up, she honestly wasn't that surprised to find Jack standing there. His hands were tucked into his pockets, and he was regarding her with his unreadable amber eyes. Sam nodded her head, indicating that he could enter.

"Hey," Jack murmured, his voice gentle. "How are you feeling?"

"Tired," Sam admitted. "Really, really tired." She leaned forward, propping her elbows on the workbench as she rested her head in her hands. It had seemed like a lifetime ago that she was cursing the fact that she had hit so much traffic on the way into work.

"Hey," Jack repeated. He came around to her side of the workbench and sat down next to her. "You did good. Really good. Because of you, the whole planet isn't run over by aliens right now." Reaching out, he squeezed her shoulder

Sam laughed tiredly, and she shook her head. She appreciated what Jack was trying to do, even if she couldn't properly express it. "That's not true. The state of Colorado, maybe. But not the whole planet."

Jack chuckled. He studied her for a long moment, and he suddenly found that he was unable to keep himself from asking the question that had been on his mind since he had first seen Sam in that storage closet.

"How did you know?" Jack asked. "That the aliens were aliens and not… us?"

Suddenly unable to look Jack in the eye, Sam stared down at her hands instead. "Something just wasn't right, you know? It was terrifying, though, to shoot someone that I knew wasn't you but that… looked so much like you."

Finally, Sam peeked up at Jack. He was giving her that look again, the same one he had given her when she had been impaled through the shoulder and stuck the Gate Room wall. It was a look that made Sam's heart stutter in her chest, and she sucked in a sharp breath.

In that moment, she knew that he deserved the truth… or at least part of it, anyway. "I knew it wasn't you, because when I called him Colonel O'Neill, he didn't ask me to call him Jack." He didn't need to know that what really sealed the deal was when the imposter had touched Sam. She had truly known that it hadn't been Jack O'Neill then.

A small smile lifted up the corners of Jack's lips. And even though he knew it wasn't a good idea, he reached out and said, "C'mere."

Jack's arm wrapped around her shoulders, and Sam leaned into his side and rested her head against his shoulder. She closed her eyes and breathed in deeply. Somehow, Sam knew that this was right.

* * *

 **The whole coffee bit at the beginning is inspired by real life: in Pennsylvania, I work right by this amazing place called Wawa. It's not a cute little café, but they make a damn good cup of coffee, and everyone that works there knows me because I'm there every single day. Unfortunately, unlike Sam, I do not have an attractive man in the Air Force to share my coffee with.**

 **Full disclosure: anything that I write is going to be pretty shippy. I just feel that—especially in the later seasons—we missed out on a lot. I swear this isn't just going to be re-writes of episodes with a Sam who's not in the military, also. This is just my way of showing that Sam would definitely kick ass in or out of the military. Anyway, thanks for reading!**


	3. in your darkest night, you are lovely

**Thank you for the amazing reviews!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own anything. The chapter title is from the song "The Grey" by Icon For Hire.**

* * *

 **seven.**

"Mom?"

"I told Cecily that why you left the wedding really was none of her business, but of course that's all she wanted to talk about at our book club meeting on Sunday—"

"Mom?"

"—she wouldn't even talk about the book, even though it was the one that she picked out! She didn't even have the common decency to pretend to talk about that ridiculous book she had forced all of us to read before she started interrogating me about the wedding and what happened—"

"Mom."

"—You should have seen some of the things that were in this book, Samantha. It was absolutely _depraved_ , is what it was—"

"Mother."

"—Of course I didn't say that you just left Jonas standing there at the altar, but Betty was only too happy to fill everyone else in. It took me over thirty minutes to steer the conversation back to the horrible book, and believe me, talking about tying people up in the bedroom and fifty shades of whatever was much better than having to talk about the wedding—"

"Wait a second." Sitting straight up, Sam clutched the phone to her ear and tried her hardest not to laugh out loud. "Did you read _Fifty Shades of Grey_ for your book club?"

On the other end of the line, Elizabeth Hayes (formerly Carter) huffed delicately. "Yes, I believe that is what the book was called. Have you heard of it?"

"Oh, I've heard of it."

"Have you read it?"

"Mom!" There was no way that Sam was going to tell her mother that she had flipped through it after Janet had read it. And there was not a chance in hell that she was going to tell Elizabeth about the time that she and Janet got drunk and watched the first movie. There were just some things that a daughter never needed to discuss with her mother.

It was time to steer this conversation away from erotic literature. "What were we talking about before this?" Sam asked quickly. She was desperate for any change in conversation, even if it meant she was going to have to sit through a full breakdown of the seven course meal her mother was planning for that weekend's dinner party.

"I told the women from the club that you simply got cold feet," Elizabeth continued, as if they had never had the most awkward conversation ever about _Fifty Shades of Grey_. "It's not as if any of them have a leg to stand on. Theresa's daughter got caught in a very compromising position with her new husband's _brother_ not three days after the wedding!"

Oh, that's right. _That's_ why Sam had let the book club discussion get away from her. Now she was almost wishing that her mother was talking about fifty shades of whatever again. Anything would be better than rehashing what happened the day Sam left Jonas Hanson standing at the altar.

In the nine months since Sam had left Nevada, her mother called her once a week. And every week, she always talked about the failed wedding and what had happened and why Sam had left. Every single week, Sam dodged the questions until she got fed up and said goodbye.

Sam hadn't told a soul—besides that woman on the plane—why she had left Jonas Hanson. Sam loved her mother dearly, but she knew there was no way that Elizabeth would truly understand what had happened and what Sam had been feeling in those moments.

It was out of the question to tell her father. Jacob Carter was a general and very much respected, even though he was now retired. Jonas would have surely disappeared without a trace had Sam even given a hint of what she had gone through with him to her father. Sam wouldn't have particularly minded if Jonas had disappeared, but she didn't want to put that on her father

Sam did know that she would have to talk about it eventually. She had been working up the courage to tell Janet—the woman was her best friend, after all. Still, Janet did have all of those needles in her possession, and Sam wouldn't put it past the redhead to jump on the first available plane and make Jonas Hanson feel a world of pain.

"Sweetheart." Elizabeth sighed. "Are you absolutely sure that you're happy in Colorado? Because you know that you're always welcome in DC with me and Henry. We'd love to have you—"

"Mom." Sam mentally patted herself on the back for not snapping at her mother. "I appreciate the offer, but I'm fine. I love it here."

She did know, however, that she was going to have to visit her mother and stepfather soon. Sam's parents had divorced when she was fifteen years old. The stress of Jacob's job had eventually proven to put too much of a toll on his relationship with his wife, and they had mutually agreed to go their separate ways.

Sam had been sad, but she remembered that what had really broke her heart was watching her parents fall out of love with each other. There had been a time when they were affectionate and loving, but Sam couldn't remember those moments past fuzzy memories as a young girl. Elizabeth and Jacob Carter eventually became two people that didn't know one another. Even though she had been young, Sam had come to see that her parents were happier apart.

Jacob had never remarried, but Elizabeth had. When Sam had been eighteen, her mother had met Henry Hayes. He was a politician, which Sam found interesting, given that that was very demanding job as well. Still, her mother seemed happy, and Henry was a kind man. They had been married for over ten years, and Sam had a very good relationship with her stepfather. He had been voted into the Senate in the last round of elections, and Elizabeth seemed to truly enjoy being the wife of a senator. She lived for Washington DC's social scene and wanted nothing more than for her daughter to join her.

Never having much been one for the life of a socialite, Sam was constantly finding ways around her mother's poorly veiled attempts to go to some gala or attend a benefit whenever she did end up visiting. Elizabeth Hayes somehow always got her way, though, and when Sam did go to DC to visit, she would inevitably find herself dressed in a ball gown or cocktail dress, in a limo, on her way to some fancy party.

(Not that Sam didn't enjoy a good party, because she did. She just preferred not to be treated like an item for auction while at the party.)

Her mother was her mother, and Sam wouldn't trade her for anyone else, though. That was why she knew that she had to protect Elizabeth from the truth of what Jonas was really like. It wasn't exactly a story that Elizabeth could share with the ladies at the book club.

"Well, if you're sure." Elizabeth didn't sound very convinced, but she wasn't going to dwell any longer on the topic. Elizabeth was sure that Sam could never be happy in Colorado, while Sam knew that she was never ever going to move to DC. Sam was relieved that Elizabeth was letting the subject drop, even if it was only temporary.

"Yeah, Mom." Sam smiled, even if there was no around but herself to see it. "I'm sure."

* * *

 **eight.**

"I know what you're doing."

Jack cast an annoyed look over his shoulder at Daniel. He was currently standing in front of the dessert case in the commissary, but his attention wasn't on any of the sweets on display in front of him. No, Jack's focus was otherwise occupied, on the other side of the commissary. What Jack had been so interested in was disgustingly obvious to Daniel, and he was cursing himself for being so transparent. That normally wasn't his style.

Well, Jack was just going to have to get Daniel in the gym for some practice with sparring. When he kicked Daniel's ass, he wouldn't be standing there smirking at Jack with that annoyingly superior look on his face.

Denial wasn't going to work, because Daniel knew him too well. Still, that didn't stop Jack from saying, "I have no idea what you're talking about, Space Monkey."

The nickname had long ago stopped annoying Daniel, but he still rolled his eyes like he always did. Then he smirked again, and nodded his head towards the blonde physicist sitting at the table Jack had been studying so intently earlier. "Sam. You like her."

"Daniel…"

"What? There's nothing wrong with being attracted to her, Jack. You should give it a chance. You never know what might happen."

It was just like Daniel to come right out and put something like that in the open. Jack had barely come to terms with the fact that he was attracted to Sam. He certainly wasn't about to admit it to anyone else, let alone himself. Jack didn't exactly have the greatest track record when it came to relationships, and as one of his best friends, Daniel knew that better than anyone.

Jack gaped at his so-called best friend. "Daniel. Do you want me to punch you in the face?"

Used to having Jack threaten him, Daniel just grinned and shoved Jack aside with his shoulder. He had been standing in the way of the pecan pie, after all. After snagging his pie, he picked up his tray and headed over to the table that Sam was sitting at.

It wasn't the table that SG-1 normally chose to occupy in the commissary, but Daniel was interested to see if Jack would follow him. Not two seconds later, Daniel heard the rattle of plates and silverware against a plastic tray, followed by the quick, heavy footfalls of boots as Jack caught up with him.

Sam, having been occupied with some readings from the Stargate, hadn't seen the two men approach. They put their trays on the table at the same time: Jack across from her, and Daniel at the spot next to him. Startled, she looked up with her spoon sticking out of her mouth. Once she realized who was at her table, she pulled her spoon out of her mouth and smiled.

"Hey guys," she greeted as she scooped another helping of her dessert onto her spoon.

Daniel settled into his chair and hastily tucked into his lunch, despite the fact that it was a very questionable looking version of beef stroganoff. He thought that the gravy was actually pretty good, to be honest. "Hey, Sam," he mumbled around a mouthful of noodles.

Jack, instead of returning Sam's greeting, was staring at what was on Sam's spoon as he sank into his chair. He was grinning, and he pointed at the bowl in front of her with his fork. "Blue Jell-O, Dr. Carter?"

"Yes…" Sam shared a look with Daniel, who just shrugged his shoulders. "I like it. Why, do you have something against blue Jell-O?"

"First of all," Jack began. "Red is definitely better. Second… I just didn't expect you to like blue Jell-O. That's all."

Sam stared at Daniel again, as if demanding an explanation for Jack and why he was being so weird. Daniel shrugged his shoulders again and barely managed to suppress an eye roll at the two of them. If he had to guess, he would say that this was Jack's strange way of flirting, but he wasn't about to share that tidbit of information with Sam. It would be much more fun to try and watch them figure this out on their own.

"…Okay," Sam finally said. It was probably better if she let it go, anyway. She scooped up another bite of blue Jell-O and shot a look at Daniel's plate as she wrinkled her nose. While she wasn't a terribly picky eater, Sam knew better than to partake in the commissary's daily special. "Daniel, what, exactly, is on your plate?"

"I'm pretty sure it's beef stroganoff," Daniel said without any hint of concern. He shoveled another forkful into his mouth while Sam watched in disgusted fascination.

Jack just shook his head while he picked up his much safer looking turkey sandwich. "Fun fact about Daniel, he'll eat anything. There was this one thing on P2X-673 that was a cross between blue cheese and anchovies and hotdogs—"

"How is that even possible?" Sam mumbled to herself.

"—and he ate all of it. The whole thing. Even Teal'c didn't touch it, and that man has Junior to protect him."

At this point, Daniel had cleared his plate of the meal masquerading as beef stroganoff. He shrugged his shoulders unapologetically, and Sam let out a low whistle.

"You're a brave man, Daniel Jackson," she said.

"Yeah, one of these days, something the locals serve us on a planet we go to will jump off the plate and try to eat you," Jack added.

Daniel got an evil little smirk on his face, and it was one that Jack really didn't like because it meant that Daniel was about to start some shit. Jack's suspicions were confirmed when Daniel said, "Jack, what about that cake you ate on Argos?"

"Ack!" Jack made a quick slashing motion across his throat and quickly glanced at Sam before glaring at Daniel.

Sam pressed her lips together in an attempt to hide her smile. She had read the mission report from SG-1's mission to Argos and knew all about how Jack had been infected with nanites that accelerated his aging. It had been a little glossed over in the report of how exactly Jack got infected, but Sam knew because Janet had got drunk one night and accidentally revealed it to Sam.

Janet had sworn Sam to secrecy, but Jack took one look at her and knew that she knew. Jack narrowed his eyes at Sam, but she made her eyes go wide and managed to look as innocent as possible. He continued to watch her, but Sam held his gaze and was proud when her left eye only twitched a little bit. Finally, Jack looked away, and Sam ate another huge scoop of blue Jell-O as a reward.

Just then, Teal'c walked by with a tray that was laden down with every type of fruit the commissary offered. He joined them at the table at the only open seat left, nodded at them in greeting, and then proceeded to eat half of an apple in one bite.

Sam smiled into her now empty bowl of Jell-O, while Jack just watched with his eyebrows up somewhere near his hairline. Daniel just said, "Hey, Teal'c. Where's Kawalsky?"

"He is having lunch with one of the nurses in the infirmary," Teal'c answered. Unsurprisingly, Teal'c somehow always knew what the hot gossip was in the SGC. Even better, he knew what was absolutely true and what was just unsubstantiated rumor.

Daniel, who hadn't had a relationship in over two years, looked suitably impressed, while Jack continued to stare at Teal'c's tray. Finally, he said, "T, how in the hell did you manage to find a whole pineapple in this place?"

Teal'c gave the barest hint of a smile and began to peel an orange instead of answering. He looked over at Daniel's plate, where he was scraping the remains of the special of the day off with his fork. "How was your beef stroganoff, Daniel Jackson?" You had to know him, but it was clear that Teal'c was mocking Daniel just a little bit.

Daniel furrowed his brow and licked gravy off of his fork. He looked thoughtful for a moment and then finally said, "It tastes like chicken."

* * *

 **nine.**

Sam was working late in her lab when the klaxons went off, signaling an unscheduled off-world activation. She ignored it, since she wasn't technically supposed to be on base at ten o'clock at night anyway. She had really hit a groove with her plans for the Naquadah generator, and she hadn't wanted to stop by the time six o'clock rolled around.

Ever since her involvement with solving the foothold situation, people in the SGC—civilian and military alike—had come to her with problems, looking for her help or opinion. She was called to the Gate Room much more frequently than she had been in the past, and she had to admit that she got a little thrill every time. There was just something about an active Stargate that she found amazing, no matter how many times she saw it.

Spinning away from her workbench and to the whiteboard behind her without getting up from her stool, Sam jotted down a few rows of numbers and then swiveled back towards her laptop. She took a few notes and added her findings to her report, and then she spun back towards the whiteboard to double-check her equations. As she studied the numbers, her mind began to wander to a person that had been all too present in her thoughts lately: Jack O'Neill.

(At this point, Sam was way past admitting that she was attracted to Jack O'Neill. She could be honest in the safety of her own mind, at least.)

Sam wasn't quite sure when it had happened (it was probably between the time he held her hand the first day she had officially met him and the first time he had knocked over and scattered important files in her lab), but it had. The practical part of her—the part that she listened to the most—warned her that she had left a man at the altar (for a good reason, but still) nine months ago, and the last thing she needed was to get involved with someone else. Especially if it was someone that she worked with.

The romantic in her was the part that Sam had never quite been able to push entirely down, no matter how much she tried to bury herself in science. That part of Sam reminded her that her last impulsive decision had turned out remarkably well, and had given her the best job she could have ever possibly asked for.

With a heavy sigh, Sam pushed away from the whiteboard and, without looking, reached behind her for the dry erase marker she had left on her workbench the last time she had looked at her laptop. Feeling around along the nearest surface of the workbench, she became frustrated when she didn't immediately find the marker. She sighed once again and decided that she was more likely to succeed in finding the marker if she actually turned around to look for it.

The late hour was beginning to get to her, and Sam knew that she needed more coffee. She was going to have to make a new pot, and that was definitely more appealing than finding her dry erase marker. Sam spun back towards her workbench, and then she nearly got a heart attack when she saw Jack O'Neill standing behind her.

"Holy Hannah!" Sam exclaimed with a hand pressed to her chest. "What are you, a ninja?"

The corners of Jack's mouth ticked up at that little exclamation, but he didn't comment on it. He was black ops trained, after all, and it wouldn't have done him any good if he couldn't sneak up on a scientist in the labs. "Normally, I'd ask you what the hell you think you're doing, being in the labs this late, Carter. But I'm actually glad that I found you here."

For some reason, Sam started to get worried. "Why?" she asked carefully as she pushed back from her workbench entirely. What could the commanding officer of the flagship team of the SGC possibly want with her this late at night?

Unbidden, Sam's mind went someplace it most definitely shouldn't have gone. All sorts of steamy images flashed through her mind, and she cleared her throat as she pushed her hair back from her face. She knew that her cheeks were flushing, and she cursed her pale skin.

If Jack noticed, he didn't say anything. The majority of his focus was clearly somewhere else and luckily, Sam didn't have to wait long to find out what the problem was. "We have a situation," Jack told her. His voice was serious, his eyes unreadable. "Come with me to the briefing room, and we can fill you in."

Sam jumped up from her stool and quickly straightened her skirt and made sure there weren't any noticeable wrinkles in her shirt. Together, they walked down the hall and got into the elevator, and then descended to the lowest level, where the Gate Room—and above that, the briefing room—was housed.

SG-1 was gathered in the briefing room, along with General Hammond. There was another man that Sam didn't recognize standing there, sweaty and obviously exhausted. His uniform was in tatters, and it looked as if he was suffering from a mild case of sun poisoning. Janet was already fussing over him, and he looked like he was barely restraining himself from pushing her away.

Daniel had that concerned look on his face that he got whenever he knew that someone was going to get upset, and even though Teal'c was wearing his normally stoic face, there was a barely-noticeable furrow in his brow, indicating his unease.

General Hammond had a look on his face that Sam hadn't seen since she was twelve years old and her pet guinea pig had died. Sam's steps faltered as she entered the briefing room, but Jack passed a hand over the small of her back and urged her forward. Sam went towards the empty seat to the left of General Hammond, and Jack took the seat next to her.

This being the SGC, General Hammond was never one to beat around the bush, even if it was with someone he had known since she was a child. "SG-9 went on a study of a community of cave-dwellers on Avnil. They made contact as scheduled, received their weekly shipment of supplies. We never had any reason to believe that anything was going on."

It was easy to connect those dots. "Until now," Sam said. She was aware that everyone was watching her carefully, which only made the feeling of unease in her stomach spread. She had no idea where this was heading, but she didn't like it.

"Until now," General Hammond confirmed. He gestured towards the man that Janet was still treating. "This is Lieutenant Laurence Conner. He returned an hour ago, but without the rest of SG-9."

Lieutenant Conner shook his head and covered his face with his hands. "It was Frakes idea to go with it when we came through the Gate and they all thought we were their gods. He said it might be easier if we let them believe for a while. It went to Hanson's head."

The name caught Sam's attention immediately, and she froze with her hands gripping the edge of the briefing room table. She stared at her hands, since that was easier than looking at any of the other people in the briefing room.

"Did you… did you just say Hanson?" Sam asked. Her words were directed at the table, but everyone still heard her clearly.

"Captain Jonas Hanson," Conner confirmed. He had no idea just what he was doing when he confirmed that name for everyone in the room. "Yes. Why?"

Sam swallowed and worked very hard to keep her emotions under control. It had been over nine months. That was long enough in Sam's opinion, and she wasn't in the mood to completely break down. She was in the briefing room in front of the general, SG-1, and someone from another SG team. Even if she _was_ going to lose it (which she totally wasn't), it wasn't going to be in front of anyone who worked at the SGC.

Pressing her lips together, Sam looked up and tried to force her expression into something resembling neutrality. She kept her gaze focused on Lieutenant Conner, since he was the only who didn't know her. He could remain objective, which helped immensely in this situation Sam now found herself in.

"Captain Hanson…" Sam cleared her throat and tried again. "Captain Hanson is pretending to be their god?"

Conner sighed heavily and shook his head once again. "He's not pretending. He believes it, too."

A snort escaped Sam then, and she pressed her hand to her mouth to swallow the sound. She was aware that everyone was looking at her, but she didn't say anything. Hanson was capable of a lot of things, but believing he was a god wasn't one of them.

"The planet was originally ruled by the Goa'uld, but they left at least a hundred years ago and let those people on that planet fall into ruin," Conner began. "When we came through the Stargate… Hanson said it would be safer if we went along with it. Said it was the system of government they needed."

"And you were okay with that?" Daniel asked. He had been through the Stargate hundreds of times with SG-1 at this point, and there had been plenty of occasions when people had thought they were gods. None of the men on SG-1 had ever felt comfortable with playing god, so it was something that they never allowed to happen. Many of the other SG teams never did it, either, because it simply wasn't right.

"You didn't see Hanson," Conner said. "He was almost… desperate with the need to pretend to be their god. Frakes agreed with Hanson, just because it was easier than arguing with him. And so we stayed. It was getting better, and we were helping the people believe that there are no gods, let alone us, when a child wandered out of the caves."

"What happened?" Jack asked. Sam couldn't bring herself to look at him, so she kept her gaze towards Conner and General Hammond.

It was obvious that everyone in the room—with the exception of Conner, who had clearly just come through the Stargate—knew about Sam's previous relationship with Hanson. Sam was sure that General Hammond informed SG-1, and the logical part of her knew that it was necessary, given the situation they were now in.

What they didn't know was everything that had caused Sam to leave Hanson. That was something that she was hoping to keep to herself.

Finally, Janet had stopped fussing over Lieutenant Conner. He sat back in his chair and dragged his hands over his face. "Hanson went after the kid. He was gone for two full days before he came back, carrying the child in his arms. The kid was in bad shape because of the radiation from the sun, but Hanson was okay… mostly. He wasn't the same after that. Wasn't sane. And the people… well, they believed he was their god, and there was no changing their minds."

"The sun did it?" Daniel asked.

"It could have been anything," Conner said. "It wasn't just the sun. Frakes and I didn't see it coming. If we had, maybe we could have stopped it." Conner's shoulders slumped and he closed his eyes. He was a man who had seen some horrible things, and now he had to recount them to a room full of people.

Sam couldn't stop herself from asking the question. The horror was building in her, and she could feel her heart rate increasing. Sam sucked a deep breath in through her nose, out through her mouth, and then asked, "What happened?"

Conner opened his eyes and stared at her for a long moment, as if deciding if she could really handle hearing what he had to say. Sam was sure that her hands were shaking, but she held Conner's gaze without flinching.

Conner looked towards Jack anyway, but Sam still wouldn't turn to see the colonel's face. He must have nodded his head, because Conner said, "There were a few cave-dwellers that weren't completely convinced of Hanson's power. Frakes and I still tried to convince them that there were no gods, especially one like Jonas Hanson. So, as punishment… Hanson tied them to stakes and put them out in the direct sunlight. If they lived seven days, they were allowed back in the caves."

General Hammond's face was hard. "Did they survive?" The tone of his voice suggested that he already knew the answer, but he had to ask anyway.

Staring at his hands, Conner let out a shaky breath. "They were blind by then. They had these giant, bleeding sores… it didn't take much longer for them to die."

Sam was fighting the urge to throw up. She finally risked a look at the rest of SG-1, and she saw that Daniel was visibly pale, while Teal'c was watching Conner with his jaw clenched, and Kawalsky had his arms crossed over his chest. Sam could practically feel the tension radiating from Jack, and General Hammond had his brow furrowed darkly.

Sam needed to get out of there.

It was all just too much. Knowing very well that she couldn't just run out of the briefing room, Sam pushed back from the table and prepared to leave anyway. She said, "As horrible as this all is, what does this have to do with me? Besides my obvious previous connection with Captain Hanson, that is."

She hoped to god that that as the only reason she was down here. They probably just wanted her opinion, and then they would send her home while SG-1 went to apprehend the rest of SG-9. Then she could go home and pretend that this was all just some horrible nightmare.

The men of SG-1 exchanged looks, and the beat of silence went on for just a second too long. General Hammond sighed and opened his mouth, then shut it again. It was Lieutenant Conner that ended up speaking.

"You're Dr. Samantha Carter, right?" When Sam nodded her head, Conner leaned forward. "Frakes and I managed to get away. We were going to escape, come back to the SGC and tell them what happened. The only reason we actually managed to get away was because he _wanted_ us to get away. He had a message he wanted us to deliver to the SGC."

The horrible feeling was more intense than it had been before, and now Sam truly felt in danger of throwing up. "What was the message?"

"He knew that they would send SG-1 after him. And he wants you to go with them." And then Conner said the one thing that would ensure that Sam would do everything she could to get on that mission, no matter what: "He said he would kill every one of those cave-dwellers if you didn't come."

Jack and Daniel were both gearing up to say something, but Sam held her hand up. "What happened to Frakes?"

Reaching into his pocket, Conner pulled out a set of charred dog tags and stared down at them. "He didn't make it." The meaning behind his words were clear, and he didn't have to explain them to anyone in that room.

That settled it, and Sam didn't care what anybody else had to say. "I'm going."

* * *

"This is insane, General. You're not telling me that you're actually going to allow her to go, are you?"

General Hammond shook his head. "I don't like this either, Jack, but I don't know what else we're supposed to do. Hanson has clearly lost it, and there's no telling what he'll do to those people on that planet. You know that as well as I do."

Yeah, Jack did know that. He also knew that Hanson was completely volatile and unpredictable, and he didn't want Sam going into a situation like that. He was well aware that he was letting his personal feelings get in the way, but he didn't particularly care at the moment.

The blonde physicist in question entered the office. She had been briefed on going through the Stargate, and General Hammond had asked to meet with her before she went to gear up. Jack clenched his jaw and crossed his arms over his chest as he leaned back against one of the low shelves in General Hammond's office.

Sam hovered nervously in the doorway, but she took a deep breath when General Hammond nodded his head, indicating that she could enter. With a cautious glance at Jack, Sam stepped into the room and sank into one of the chairs in front of General Hammond's desk.

The question was out of her mouth before she could think about it. "Why wasn't I told that Hanson had been stationed here?"As hard as she tried, she couldn't keep the hurt out of her voice. General Hammond had been at the wedding and had known that she left Hanson at the altar, after all.

General Hammond shifted slightly in his chair, but his face remained impassive. "He was transferred here three months after you started here. He had been screened to be on an SG team. He was evaluated by Mackenzie, and he stated he had no interest in starting anything with you."

"And you _believed_ him?" Jack demanded. "She left the man at the altar, and you honestly thought that he wouldn't try anything with her?"

Sam whipped around in her chair to face Jack, her eyes blazing. Jack's words were directed towards General Hammond, but it was hard for Sam not to be affected by them. "You don't know what happened," she snapped. She stopped talking abruptly and pressed her lips together before she turned back around to face General Hammond. It was much easier to pin her glare on the general than Jack, who was watching her with a disturbingly knowing look on his face.

"It's been over six months since he was stationed here," General Hammond said gently. "He never even tried to go down to the labs. We had no reason to believe that he would try to contact you, Sam." He leaned towards her over the desk, his eyes sincere. "I was going to tell you soon, Sam."

General Hammond typically went above and beyond for his people. Hanson had been transferred to the SGC, and the orders had gone above his head, but Hammond had done everything he could to make sure that Hanson would have no contact with Sam. He looked out for those under his command, even though he had to remain as objective as possible.

Sam resisted the urge to say "whatever," and instead stood up and squared her shoulders. "Are we done here? I needed to get geared up."

General Hammond nodded. He looked carefully between Jack and Sam as the physicist left the colonel followed her out. He had a feeling this mission wasn't going to go as planned… but he felt better knowing that SG-1 was in Sam's corner.

* * *

Out in the hallway outside the locker rooms, Jack caught Sam's arm and pulled her to a stop, even though he knew that having this talk, here and now, probably wasn't the best idea. She tugged once, but Jack didn't let go. With a sigh, Sam stopped trying to walk forward and turned to face Jack completely, her lips pressed together and her eyebrows up near her hairline.

"What do you want, Colonel O'Neill?" Sam demanded.

Jack sighed at the pointed way she used his title. "Oh, come on. Don't be like that." Seeing the frown still on Sam's face, Jack said, "I'm sorry, okay? You had your reasons for leaving Hanson, I'm sure. I was just trying to say that the General shouldn't have assumed that Hanson wasn't going to try something while you were both working in the same place."

Sam stared down at the hand that Jack still had on her arm, but he either didn't realize he was still holding on to her, or he was still concerned that she would try to get away. Either way, he didn't move back from her.

"How did you know that I had a good reason?" Sam asked, unable to help herself. "How do you know I didn't just get cold feet?"

Jack shrugged his shoulders. "You don't seem like the kind of person to do something without a really good reason."

He left it at that, which Sam appreciated. Despite the seriousness of the situation, she could even feel herself begin to smile a little bit. Unwilling to dissect how Jack O'Neill was somehow making her smile, Sam tried to pull away from him again, but Jack's grip tightened on her arm. It wasn't uncomfortable, but it was enough to catch Sam's attention.

"Was there something else?" she asked as she pointedly looked at his hand on her arm.

Jack smiled blandly at her and didn't let her go. "Yeah. There are some rules that we need to go over before you head through that Stargate."

"Rules?"

"Yes, rules," Jack repeated. "Rule number one: you don't touch anything unless I tell you to touch it."

"I remember that rule," Sam said patiently. She was clearly humoring him, but Jack didn't mind.

"Rule number two: you don't go anywhere unless I tell you to. Rule number three: you don't say anything to any native unless I tell you to."

Sam held up her free hand. "Believe it or not, I think I understand. I can't do anything unless you tell me to do it."

"Hey!" Jack grinned and clapped his hands, finally releasing her arm. "Look at that. I guess the rumors of your genius aren't entirely unfounded."

Sam didn't bother to hold back her eye roll. "Are we good, then?" she asked as she gestured between their bodies. "Can I go get ready, now?"

Jack waved his hand towards the locker room. "By my guest."

* * *

"Is this really necessary?" Sam pushed up the helmet she had been told that she had to wear.

Jack was pulling a baseball cap on his head, and he shaped the bill with his hands. "Absolutely necessary."

Daniel patted her shoulder. "If it makes you feel better, Jack made me wear one for the entire first year I was on SG-1."

"And you should still be wearing one," Kawalsky added with a snort. "You were in the infirmary way less when you had the helmet than you are now."

Daniel rolled his eyes and mumbled under his breath as he fit a bandana over his head.

"What about the vest?" Sam asked. "Does it have to be so… bulky?" She tugged on the front of it, hoping to get it to stop from digging in under her arms. She wasn't used to being so restricted by her clothing. She knew that all of the layers were there to provide her with protection, but it still took some getting used to.

Jack's gaze moved over Sam, from the top of her helmeted head to the bottom of her booted

feet. "You look great," he said.

Sam's cheeks flushed bright red, but she didn't have that much time to dwell on Jack's comment, however, as the Stargate had started spinning. Her focus was now on the spinning ring and the way each chevron lit up as it was locked in.

Harriman was calling out each chevron as they were entered in. "Chevron three, encoded. Chevron four, encoded."

So on it went, until Harriman finally said, "Chevron seven, locked."

The event horizon exploded, and Sam gaped at it. She had seen an active wormhole before, but she had been impaled by an alien device shortly after that, so she hadn't been able to look at it as closely as she wanted to.

Without waiting for the rest of SG-1 (and Connor, who was headed back to the planet with them), Sam slowly walked up the ramp and stopped right in front of the event horizon. She reached out and dragged her fingers across the blue ripples in front of her, gasping at the feel against the tips of her fingers.

"Having fun?"

Sam wasn't surprised that it was Jack behind her, and she didn't jump at his sudden appearance. Instead, she looked over her shoulder at him and smiled brightly. "This is amazing," she whispered.

"It is," Jack agreed. But his gaze was on her instead of the event horizon—not that Sam noticed. She had turned her attention back to the event horizon, which Jack did have to admit was pretty cool on any other day. But this wasn't just a regular day.

He gave her a few more moments, but they really did have to get a move on. He put his hand on her back. "You ready?"

Sam took a deep breath and nodded her head. "As ready as I'll ever be, I guess."

The rest of SG-1 had walked up the ramp and was standing behind Sam in a supportive line. She gave them an appreciative look over her shoulder and then waved at General Hammond from where he was standing in the control room. He nodded his head in return.

"We'll be right here with you," Jack said.

Sam shared another smile with Jack and then, together, they stepped through.

* * *

Sam got back to her feet from her hunched over position and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. She caught Kawalsky trying to hide his laughter, and she glared at him. Of course, that only made Kawalsky laugh harder.

Jack handed Sam his canteen. "Kawalsky, I'd stop the laughter if I were you. Or did you forget that you threw up the first five times you went through the Gate?"

Kawalsky made mimicking noise in the back of his throat and went off to discuss the layout of the caves with Connor. Sam, now that she wasn't throwing up, was now focused on her surrounding area. Despite the thick canopy of trees above them, she could feel the heat from the large, bright sun beating down on them. Sam was positive that she'd be sweating through the BDUs and the bulky vest within ten minutes.

"So," Daniel said. "Is it everything you expected?"

"Going through the Stargate? Absolutely. The planet?" Sam looked around again and smiled. "There are a lot more trees than I expected."

"You get used to it," Daniel told her. "There are way more planets that have tress than don't."

"Come on, campers," Jack said as he pushed back Sam and Daniel. He slid his sunglasses on and checked his watched. "Connor said that we need to move during the daytime."

Jack and Connor took point while Kawalsky and Teal'c took up the rear, leaving Sam and Daniel in the middle. Daniel leaned over and whispered to Sam, "Jack hates trees." She giggled and covered her mouth with her hand in an attempt to smother it, but of course Jack heard.

"I can hear you two, you know!" Jack called back to them. "This is what I get for bringing _two_ scientists on a mission."

They didn't walk very far before they stopped to make camp. The caves were close, but they didn't want to get so close as to alert anyone that Hanson had on guard. They needed the night to come up with their plan on just how they were going to get to Hanson, and then they would make their move.

From her perch near the campfire, Sam watched in fascination as SG-1 moved around the campfire in practiced and comfortable moves. They had a routine and a camaraderie she wouldn't have expected out of four very different men.

After they finished setting up, Jack set next to Sam on the log and handed her a prepared MRE. She grimaced at the bag and took fork he offered her as well. "Um, thanks… I guess."

That made Jack laugh. "I know. This stuff makes the commissary food look like a gourmet meal, doesn't it?"

"You can say that again." Sam scooped up some noodles from the MRE and frowned at it. "So this is supposed to be mac and cheese?"

"Yeah."

"That's sad."

Jack laughed again and then shook his head. "So. Is your first trip through the Stargate everything you thought it would be?"

The smile on her face at hearing Jack's laughter widened a little. "It is." Her smile slowly faded, then, and she looked down into her MRE. "I just wish I was here for a different reason. Going after my ex-fiancé wasn't really the way I thought I'd be going through the Stargate."

"I know." Jack's brown eyes were steady as he looked at Sam. "The reason you left him at the altar… is this going to be a problem?"

Suddenly losing her appetite, Sam set the MRE aside. "Are you saying you know why I left Hanson?"

Jack shrugged his shoulders and didn't shy away from the question. "I have… thoughts."

Sam looked sharply at Jack, and she knew in that moment that her outburst in the office had given too much away. She should have known that Jack would have begun to connect the dots, and he proved it when he stared right back at her. She could see it in his eyes—that look that someone who knew about and had seen horrible things had. She supposed that it was easy to make the connection between a man like Jonas—who would make a whole population of people on another planet believe he was their god—and why Sam would leave him. Especially for a man like Jack, whose job it was to be able to read people like that.

Sam had two options: to brush off what Jack said and pretend that there was no issue at all, or… admit what happened and own up to it all.

It was probably because the entire population of this village rested on Sam's ability to compartmentalize. If she was going to do that, Jack needed to know all of the facts.

Sam knew she was considering telling Jack anyway because she was a new planet, under a new sky of stars, and in that moment, it seemed that the world was at her fingers and anything was possible…including a new, clean slate. In her mind, the only way to get that clean slate was to get her secret off her chest.

Still, Sam wasn't sure that she should spill her secrets to Jack O'Neill. He was the kind of man who kept a lot of secrets, and Sam didn't want to add to it by dumping her problems on him. He was already here to clean up the mess that Jonas Hanson had created, after all. Jack didn't really need to know about Sam's part in it.

"We…" Sam looked away from Jack and stared into the campfire instead. "We don't have to get into that right now."

"We should," Jack stated as if it was that simple. Then, he said the one thing that would get Sam to talk: "It might help me understand what's going on. I'm going to need all of the information when we go in after Hanson."

Jack had said exactly what she needed to hear. Putting it that way, stating that he needed the information tactically, took the emotion out of it for Sam. She was able to present what had happened to her almost ten months ago as if she was reporting on one of her experiments.

Surely, the ramifications of this mission would come back and bite her in the ass. For now, though, Sam would live with whatever coping mechanisms she could get her hands on.

Sam kept her gaze on the campfire. Jack may have given her a way to talk about it, but that didn't mean she could look at him while she did it. The fire crackled and popped, sending a shower of sparks up into the air. Around the fire, she could hear the conversations of the rest of their group: Daniel and Kawalsky to the left of them, arguing about something, and Teal'c and Connor across from them, murmuring quietly.

Sam took a deep breath. "It only happened once." Sam's hand drifted up towards her right bicep and she closed her eyes briefly. It was like she could feel the imprint of Hanson's fingers pressing into her arm, the grip tight.

She opened her eyes again, trying to push back the memory of what it felt like when Hanson had sent her careening across the kitchen. Sam forced her hand to drop back into her lap and let out a dry, slightly hysterical laugh.

"I don't even remember what we were fighting about. No matter how I hard I try, I can't remember what made him… I don't know why…" Sam cleared her throat and pressed her lips together. Finally, she glanced over at Jack and inhaled sharply at the look on his face.

He was so tense that it seemed like he was about to snap in half. His jaw was granite hard, locked in anger, and something dangerous and dark flickered in his eyes. He was coiled tight, ready to fight, and the fierceness in him took her breath away.

Then, right before her eyes, Jack inhaled deeply and relaxed. Sam watched as his shoulders dropped, his fists unclenched, and his jaw unlocked. The furrow in his brow went away and he leaned forward, resting his elbows on his bent knees. The last thing to leave was the dark look in his eyes… but they cleared, and then Jack was looking right at her, heartbreaking understanding in his gaze.

"I'm sorry," Jack said.

Sam took a deep breath and pushed her hair back from her face. "Don't be," she said. "It wasn't… it's not like he abused me. It was once. And that was enough."

"Once is too many times," Jack stated firmly.

Sam shrugged her shoulders. It had taken that one moment of Hanson pushing her, of course, to realize that he was not a good guy. There had been times before that, instances that Sam had pushed aside and ignored, where she hadn't felt that comfortable around Jonas. He'd made snide little comments here and there, used words that made Sam feel bad about herself.

Sam had a fair amount of self confidence, but she wasn't without her insecurities. Hanson had always worded his little barbs at her in such a way that he knew exactly what those insecurities were. It had taken many months, but Sam had come to realize that she never did anything about it because she had held on to those harsh words as a way to keep Hanson at arm's length.

About four months after she had left Hanson at the altar, Sam had come to the realization in the middle of the night: she had cared for Hanson, sure, but agreeing to marry him had been a decision made out of self preservation. For reasons she couldn't explain, she had panicked at the thought that she would never find anyone to be with again.

That was when she knew that she had to leave. Sam didn't like feeling that way about herself, and she knew that she had to make a change. She had no reason to stay, so it was easier to leave. Perhaps it wasn't fair to anyone—including Hanson—but Sam knew that she had made the right choice in the end.

She wasn't sure how to articulate all of that to Jack, but she kind of thought that she didn't really need to. Sam had a feeling that Jack knew part of it, at least. He was watching her with such understanding, though anything else in his gaze was carefully guarded.

Clearing her throat, Sam sat back and picked up the remains of her MRE and decided that it would be better if she tried to eat. Off-world, she would need to keep her energy up as much as possible. "So, what are we going to do when we find him?" Sam asked.

"Well, we're either going to bring him back to face court martial, or we're… not." Jack shot her a look that was more resigned than it was apologetic. "I think you know what the not means."

Sam nodded her head slowly. She did, and she knew that she was going to have to prepare herself for the fact that Hanson might not be coming back with them. Sam had to prepare herself for what would happen if Hanson _did_ come back with them, as well.

She sighed and pressed her fingers to her temples, massaging firmly. Was it too much to ask for this to be easy?

"Any idea of what you want me to say? To Hanson, I mean. When we find him." Sam dipped her fork back into the MRE and a face at the forkful of noodles, but ate it anyway.

Jack let out a quick, wry laugh. "Oh, you're not going to be saying anything to Hanson."

"What do you mean? I thought that's why I was here."

"You're here because Hanson has gone psycho, and he was threatening to kill a civilization of people if he didn't see you. You're going to stand very, very far away, he's going to see you, and that's going to be it."

"But Jack," Sam began. "What if—"

"No way, Sam," Jack interrupted. "You've gotta be nuts if you think I'm letting you anywhere near him. Not only would it be a risk to the completion of this mission, but there's no way that I'd ask you to put yourself in that situation."

Sam took a breath to further voice her protests, but when she saw the look on Jack's face, she stopped and rolled her eyes instead. Jack caught it, of course, and he grinned at her in response. Sam huffed and ate another bite of her dinner and then made a face at Jack, as though it was his fault that the mac and cheese tasted like chicken.

* * *

"Teal'c, I'm putting you in charge of Dr. Carter. Keep an eye on her and make sure she doesn't get herself into trouble." Jack cleaned off the lenses of his sunglasses and slid them on, purposefully not looking over his shoulder, where he knew that Sam was finishing up her cup of instant coffee (the face she had made when she had first taken a sip was so funny that Jack hadn't been able to hold back his laughter. When he had called her a coffee snob, she had barely resisted the urge to stick her tongue out at him.)

"I heard that!" Sam yelled.

Without turning around, Jack waved his hand over his head dismissively. "Daniel, you're going to stay with Carter and Teal'c." He didn't specify why, but of course Daniel knew, and he grumbled about it anyway.

"You just want the scientists to stay together so we don't cause you any problems," Daniel accused. This was an old argument, so there was no real dismay in his voice. In fact, Daniel didn't mind being told he had to stay with Sam. He had seen Sam and Jack talking the night before, and had a feeling that Sam was going to need some distraction during this mission.

Not everyone was used to seeing the less-than shiny side of Stargate travel. Sure, the scientific and archeological discoveries were amazing, and they had made some fantastic allies over the last three years. Still, there were horrors out there in the galaxy, and seeing things like that could change people. It had obviously changed Hanson—he had taken the misguided beliefs of a group of people and used them to his own advantage when he had a psychological break. That would be tough for anyone to deal with, especially the people that were in his life, or had been in his life. The effect was clear on Lieutenant Connor, after all. Daniel could only imagine how Sam was going to feel about it.

"I resent the implication that I would cause trouble," Sam said as she joined them. She saw Jack cast a pointed look at the top of her head—her head was bare, her blonde hair pulled back in a messy bun to keep it off of the back of her neck. She pointedly looked away from him, and instead came face to face with Kawalsky, who was holding the helmet out to her with an amused smile.

Sam narrowed her eyes at the major and then looked back at Jack. He just crossed his arms over his chest and nodded his head towards the helmet, waiting patiently. Kawalsky shook the helmet enticingly, while Teal'c, Daniel, and Connor watched, waiting to see who would win this standoff.

The corners of Jack's mouth began to curl up when Sam returned her gaze to his. His eyes were hidden behind the lenses of his sunglasses, but she still didn't look away from him. Jack didn't mind. He was a patient man; he could wait.

Almost a full minute passed before Sam jerked the helmet out of Kawalsky's hands and plopped it onto her head. It sat back too far and Jack stepped forward, reaching out and adjusting it so that it sat lower on her forehead.

When Jack stepped into her space, Sam inhaled sharply. His hands lingered on the helmet for half a beat too long—casual passerby might not have noticed, but the people surrounding them knew Jack well enough to see it. As Jack let go of her helmet, the long fingers of his left hand brushed the side of her neck, and Sam did a poor job of concealing the shiver caused by his touch.

Jack turned on his foot without looking at him and started to cross the wooded clearing. "Let's move out, people."

Sam stared after him, gaping slightly. Lieutenant Connor had already started to follow Jack, but the rest of SG-1 was standing behind her, waiting for her to move. When Sam looked over her shoulder, she saw that they were all wearing matching grins (well, Teal'c's was more subtle) that were entirely too knowing. Sam couldn't resist the glare she sent them as she followed Jack and Connor, but that didn't erase the amused looks of the rest of SG-1.

* * *

They had a plan: Sam, Daniel, and Teal'c would stay up on the ridge, out of sight, while Jack, Kawalsky, and Lieutenant Connor tried to get one of the locals to tell them where Hanson was hiding out. It was the most practical plan, and if they could get one of the locals to give up Hanson's location, it meant that they could sneak up on him and try to get him to surrender without anyone getting hurt.

Sam sat crouched by the ridgeline, and she pressed a hand to her stomach as she tried to settle the nauseous feelings that had developed ever since they saw what was in that clearing. Hanson was making those poor people work out in the sun for hours without any breaks, in order to build some sort of temple. She had no idea what happened to Hanson to make him do something so horrible to innocent people that didn't deserve a fate like this. This was something that she should have seen coming.

Sitting there, tucked safely away while those people worked themselves to exhaustion—and death, possibly—and while Jack and Kawalsky and Connor risked their lives to find out where Hanson was, made Sam feel like she was going to be sick. For probably the fifth time in as many minutes, she shifted and looked first at Daniel, then at Teal'c.

"You have to let me go down there," she repeated. "I can get through to him. I can make him listen."

"No way," Daniel said immediately, and the look on Teal'c's face was the same one that he had given her the last four times she had asked: immovable and serious.

Daniel knew that the conversation between Jack and Sam and been private the night before, but that didn't mean that he hadn't heard it. They had all been around that campfire, after all, and sound carried in a space that small. Despite the conversation that he had been having with Kawalsky, Daniel had heard the reason why Sam had left Hanson. He knew that Kawalsky and Teal'c had, as well, and that made them all extra protective of Sam—whether or not she felt as though she needed it.

"Let's see what Jack and Kawalsky and Connor can find out," Daniel told Sam once again. "Then we'll move forward."

Sam clamped her mouth shut and looked back towards where the people of Avnil were working. The other member of SG-9—the one that Connor had identified as Lieutenant Baker—got rough with one of the workers, hitting him over and over. Sam's fists clenched and she shot a look at Daniel, her eyes pleading. He looked just as horrified and angry as she felt, but he shook his head again. They couldn't interfere, not while they didn't have the information they needed. Running off half-cocked, revealing their presence on the planet and their position, would do nothing besides get them caught. Then they'd be even less help.

Teal'c's attention was across the clearing, however. Several of the other guards that had been posted around the clearing were dragging an unconscious Lieutenant Connor between them. There was a small moment of relief that Jack and Kawalsky weren't with him, but it was over quickly when they realized just what was going to happen to Connor. Daniel cursed under his breath and Teal'c climbed silently to his feet.

"I will go locate O'Neill and Major Kawalsky," Teal'c told them. "Remain here until I have returned."

Daniel snatched up his binoculars and started a running commentary of what they were doing with Connor, just to keep her distracted. Plan A never worked, and after three-plus years, they should have known that. "Okay, it looks like they're discussing what they should do with Connor. I'm sure Baker will want to have a say, but they're probably going to go find Hanson before they make an actual decision, and—"

Daniel stopped talking abruptly when Sam appeared in his line of vision. She was making her way over to Baker, and she was nearly there. Jack was going to kill him, Daniel knew, but it was going to be even worse if Daniel gave up his position as well. Daniel thought about just screwing it all and go after Sam anyway, but there was the rustle of bushes behind him, and he turned to find Teal'c, Jack, and Kawalsky returning.

Jack noticed Sam's absence immediately. "Where's Carter?" he demanded.

Wordlessly, Daniel handed Jack the binoculars. He looked through them just in time to see Sam get between Baker and the local he was beating. She shoved the bigger man, hard, and he backhanded her across the face. She went down to the ground on all fours, but she had no chance to recover. Baker grabbed her arm and jerked her up, dragging her off.

Jack was clenching his jaw so hard that his teeth were grinding together. Finally, he managed to speak: "Teal'c, follow them. Find out where they're going."

This had not been the plan, but at least they were going to find out where Hanson was. And Jack would be damned if he let that man lay a finger on Sam.

* * *

 **Writing this is way more fun than I thought it would be. Writing this as an AU allows me to have Sam react to Jack in ways that she wouldn't have if she had been in the Air Force, which is fun to explore. Writing Jack has always been a little difficult, but it's been interesting, and I'm excited to delve into it as Sam and Jack get to know one another more.**

 **Many thanks to the Stargate Wiki, so I can check facts and transcripts on the episodes that I'm referencing.**


	4. a dark world aches for a splash of sun

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything. The chapter title comes from the song "Cough Syrup" by Young the Giant.**

* * *

 **ten.**

Plan A rarely ever worked. Plan B was typically a desperate attempt to save Plan A. Sam was beginning to see that, now.

As Baker led her to a cluster of caves, she tried to come up with a Plan C—a plan that would get her away from Baker without actually having to see Hanson, and get her back to SG-1 at the same time.

Sam had been trained in self-defense, of course. Her father was in the military, after all, and so was her older brother. The two of them would hardly let her go out into the world without at least some basic understanding of self-defense.

That was all that Sam had, however: a basic knowledge of self-defense. She had tried the whole stomping on the foot thing, and she had tried to send the heel of her hand into Baker's nose. She knew that she had succeeded in breaking Baker's nose, but it hadn't seemed to deter him the slightest. She had even gone so far as to knee him in the groin, but the move had only served to enrage Baker further. He had taken the butt of his weapon and whacked it across her ribs, causing Sam to fall to the ground before she had been dragged to her feet once again.

Thinking about it in terms of science helped Sam rationalize the situation she currently found herself in. The radiation from the sun was either giving Baker some sort of preternatural powers (which would mean that Sam was shit out of luck when she finally got face to face with Hanson), or that same radiation was just causing him to lose his faculties and he had no idea of the pain that Sam had inflicted on him (which was more likely, but Sam refused to get her hopes up).

She wanted to ask all sorts of questions, but she was able to read people to a certain extent, and she knew that asking Baker any sort of question would end badly for her. So she kept her mouth shut and instead tried to think about what she was going to say when she finally came face-to-face with Hanson.

Sam wasn't stupid. She had known, as she had half-run, half-slid down the ridge, that she was basically handing herself over to Hanson without any backup. God only knew what state of mind Hanson was in, and Sam was aware that this could all end very badly for her, in more way than one.

When she had sat there, watching Baker beat the crap out of some poor guy that didn't deserve, Sam knew that she couldn't leave the people of this planet at the mercy of a lunatic. Not when she knew that she could do something to stop it… or at least, provide a distraction long enough for SG-1 to come busting in, guns blazing, and put an end to it once and for all.

That was quickly becoming her Plan C. Distract and stall Hanson for as long as possible, until SG-1 could get to her. Sam knew about SG-1's reputation, of course—they never left anyone behind. Even so, Sam was confident that they would come back for her, if only so Jack could yell at her for disobeying his orders.

That thought was slightly reassuring, which was good, since Sam was only now just aware of the fact that she was standing at the mouth of a cave. Baker still had a bruising grip on her arm, and blood was still dripping from his nose—not that it seemed to bother him. He just turned slowly and gave her a creepy smirk that made Sam pull back as far as she could while he still had a hold of her.

He was obviously waiting for some kind of cue as they stood there in the sweltering heat, and it came only a few seconds later. A deep voice—deeper than it should have been, and Sam would know, having spent almost two years hearing it—intoned, "Enter."

Baker finally let her go, but he shoved her forward. Sam stumbled into the cave and only just managed to avoid falling flat on her face. She paused long enough to shoot Baker a dirty look over her shoulder (not because it would have any effect on him, but because it made her feel better), and then she turned to face the man that had caused all of her problems since they whole things started.

Captain Jonas Hanson was seated on a dais of some sort. Crudely made, it was decorated with skulls of animals natural to the planet. Hanson had some sort of tribal robe on, thrown over his ripped and bloodied BDU's. At his feet, there were three women who took turns feeding him, giving him water, and running their fingers through his wild, unkempt hair.

Sam took all of this in thoughtfully, her mind calculating. Then, she said the first thing that came to her mind, without really thinking about it:

"What the hell is wrong with you?"

Hanson smirked and nodded his head. Behind her, Baker kicked at the backs of legs, and Sam fell to her knees with a grunt. Her hands hit the dirt floor of the cave as she caught herself, and she tried to climb back to her feet. Baker grabbed a hold of her shoulder and pressed down, keeping her on her knees. Sam hissed, partially in pain from the pressure of Baker's fingers, but more in annoyance. Still, she took the hint and stayed down.

"Kneel before your God," Hanson said as he held his hands out, gesturing to the cave and the tunnels—his supposed kingdom—surrounding them.

She knew that she shouldn't do it, but it was like she was no longer in control of her body. Perhaps it was the heat, or maybe it was just that she was so done with Hanson's shit that she couldn't hold back any longer. Whatever the reason, it seemed as though Sam no longer had a filter where Hanson was concerned.

Sam rolled her eyes. Hanson's eyebrows shot up, and Sam saw that familiar flash of anger in his eyes. That, at least, hadn't changed.

His voice was back to normal, now. "I see you haven't changed a bit, Sam."

Sam shook her head, and a smile without any humor crossed her lips. "I know that you've always thought highly of yourself, Jonas, but don't you think this is taking it a bit far?"

Hanson knew exactly what she was talking about. "It's what these people needed, Sam," he said, as if he could rationalize enslaving an entire population of people for some fool's mission. "They needed direction, a purpose. You should be able to identify with that."

Refusing to take the bait, Sam rolled her shoulders in an effort to shake Baker off. His hand fell away, but it was because Hanson had nodded once again. Unwilling to push her luck, Sam didn't try to stand, even though her knees were beginning to ache. The air was considerably cooler in the caves, so at least she had that going for her.

"And you're just the man for the job, aren't you, Jonas?" Sam asked. She tried to keep her tone light and conversational, but there was a slight tremor that betrayed just how anxious she was.

Hanson simply smiled at her. He watched her for a long moment, long enough for Sam to shift uneasily, even though she held his gaze and refused to look away. Finally, he said, "Where are your friends, Sam? I knew Hammond wouldn't send you through the Gate without his favorite little team."

"I don't know," Sam told him truthfully. She was pleased at how annoyed that seemed to make Hanson. She just had to keep stalling, keep him talking. In the meantime, her mind raced as she tried to figure out a way to escape. Sam had no problem providing a distraction, but damn if she was going to make it easy for him.

Suddenly, Hanson launched himself from his throne and was in Sam's face, on his knees in front of her. She reared back, but Baker kept her in place, digging his fingers so hard into her shoulder that Sam was sure there would be bruises tomorrow. Sam clenched her jaw tight and straightened her spine, squaring her shoulders.

"Don't fuck with me, Sam." Hanson's voice was low, dangerous, and had an edge of crazy to it that reminded Sam just how stupid her Plan C was. It's not like she could go back now, anyway. "Tell me where your little friends are, and this will go a lot easier for you."

Sam lifted her chin and pressed her lips together, refusing to answer. Hanson smirked at her, his eyes flashing before he grabbed her face in both of his hands and pressed a kiss to her cheek.

Closing her eyes and breathing deeply through her nose, Sam willed herself not to throw up. Thankfully, Baker hauled her to her feet once again, and they went deeper into the caves.

* * *

"This mission has gone straight to hell."

Leaning back against a tree, Jack took his hat off and dragged his hands through his hair. Teal'c was standing to his left, his back ram-rod straight with his arms crossed over his chest. Kawalsky was to his right, sitting against a tree with his legs bent and his hands draped over his knees. Daniel was pacing back and forth, going across a short distance.

Kawalsky snorted. "You can say that again."

Charlie Kawalsky always had a way of summing up the obvious with his sarcastic little comments. Normally, Jack appreciated the breaks in tension, but this time he wasn't really having it. He shot Kawalsky a look, and the younger man nodded his head once, indicating that he got the message.

"I should have kept an eye on her," Daniel grumbled as he pivoted on his foot and paced across the clearing once again. "I shouldn't have—"

"You shouldn't have what?" Jack interrupted. Daniel shot him a look, and Jack held his hands up. "You know I don't think it's your fault, Daniel."

Daniel stopped pacing long enough to say, "You don't?"

Sighing, Jack fit his hat back over his head. "No, Daniel, I don't. Something tells me that Carter would have figured out a way to get to Hanson whether we let her or not."

Jack was well-acquainted with guilt. He knew just as much about feeling guilty over other people's actions, and he had recognized the look on Sam's face once they had stepped through the Stargate. She felt responsible for Hanson's break, no matter how illogical it was. Jack had a suspicion that Hanson was breaking long before he even met Sam, and Jack knew that it wouldn't make a difference to Sam. She was going to carry this on her shoulders, and Jack hated that. No one deserved a burden like that, especially someone like Samantha Carter.

"So what's next?" Daniel said once he finally accepted what Jack told him. "It's not like we can go busting in there and just take her. Hanson could kill her and any of the other people around them. And we have Lieutenant Connor to think about, too."

"Let me worry about Connor," Kawalsky said. "We'll get someone to get us in. We'll have to get another local to trust us for that, though. It might take a little while."

Jack's eyes were on the bush across from the clearing, as well as Teal'c's. Jack's eyebrows shot up, and Teal'c nodded his head once and disappeared around the trees, moving silently. Jack waited for several beats, until he was sure that Teal'c was in position.

"You might not have to wait for that, Kawalsky," Jack said as he tipped his heads towards the bush. Teal'c appeared then, nudging two men forward with his staff weapon. They both looked absolutely terrified, and their wide eyes and surprised expressions were almost enough to make Jack smile. He managed to hold it back and instead let Daniel play SG-1's spokesperson.

They were two locals—Jamala and his brother—who had been working at the site of the temple and had seen the whole thing go down: Connor's capture, the way Sam had stopped Baker from beating Jamala's brother to death. They wanted to help, as they were among a growing number of people on the planet that didn't want to follow Hanson, and didn't believe in him.

That was there way in, then. The brothers would help Kawalsky get in and find Connor, with Teal'c serving as backup. Jack and Daniel would head into the caves, provided with directions from Jamala, and try to find Sam and apprehend Hanson.

Jack sighed and slid his sunglasses back on. It sounded easy enough, but Jack was always prepared for the worst-case scenario. Over three years at the SGC taught him that.

* * *

Pushing her hair back from her face, Sam sat back on her heels and stared at the device in front of her. Hanson had showed it to her two hours ago and demanded that she figure out how to turn it on. Apparently, this was the device that was going to prove Hanson as their god once and for all.

That didn't exactly make Sam eager to turn it on for him, but she knew that Hanson wouldn't hesitate to do something horrible to her if she refused… he could even go so far as to kill her. With Hanson's psychotic break, Sam wouldn't put it past him. The thought was terrifying, especially since Hanson had Baker hovering over her, watching her every move. She did her best to push that knowledge away, and instead focused on the piece of technology in front of her.

There was something comforting in technology. It was always reliable, and never tried to lie to her or trick her or talk her into doing something that she didn't want to do. Goa'uld technology was familiar to Sam, and she had figured out how to turn on the device an hour and a half ago. Sam was still stalling for time, though, taking a look through the inner workings of the device. Despite the reasons she was here, Sam couldn't deny that it was an interesting piece of technology.

Hanson came stomping back into the cavern the column-like device Sam was working on. Sam ignored him as he paced back and forth in the tight space of the cavern, but she caught the high-strung, crazy sheen to his eyes. She took a deep breath and ducked her head back under the device; it was much safer under there.

"Are you done yet?" Hanson demanded.

"No," Sam said shortly, without looking away from the device.

"Why the hell not? What's taking so long?"

"Have you ever tried to work with alien technology before?" Sam snapped. She pulled back from the device and was unable to resist shooting a glare over her shoulder at Hanson. Apparently, he no longer had problems hiding just how controlling and demanding he was. "Because you can't just start pushing buttons and hoping that it somehow works. You have to figure out how these things work before you start messing with them."

"I would have thought that you could have figured it out by now," Hanson said snippily. "You spent three years at Area 51 with your head stuck up all sorts of alien technology, and you can't figure this one out? I should have known."

It was a cheap, low blow, and Sam knew it. She could feel his words grating at her nerves, and she could feel those old insecurities creeping up from when they were together. Even with her anger at the fact that he had essentially kidnapped her and was holding her against her will with the threat of innocent people's lives hanging over her head, Sam could feel tears burning in her eyes.

She blinked them away harshly and attributed it to the fact that she was in a high-stress situation. "You can get down here and try to turn it on then, if you want."

Her words had the desired effect. Hanson muttered something under his breath, but he turned on his heel and stalked away. Sam took a deep breath and ducked her head back into the device.

Another hour passed, and Baker dragged Sam out of the cavern and into the main cave, where Hanson was surrounded by those women again. He was eating something, and he offered Sam some water, but no food.

Even though her mouth was dry and her stomach was grumbling, Sam shook her head and refused the water as she glanced over at the jug. Hanson just shrugged his shoulders and went back to eating, but Sam wasn't paying attention to her ex-fiancé. Instead, her eyes were on the object next to the water jug: Hanson's handgun.

It was the split second decision that Sam needed to get away. She didn't have time to think about the repercussions; she just grabbed the gun, turned the safety off, and leveled it at Hanson's chest.

Hanson didn't look alarmed, or scared, or even angry. Instead, he just looked amused, which only served to infuriate Sam further. Her finger wrapped around the trigger, putting the slightest bit of pressure on it. Not enough to actually pull it, but Sam was serious. Even with the glare she was leveling at Hanson, he still chuckled and stood up.

"Are you going to shoot me, Sam?" He stepped forward, his eyes not on the gun, but on her. "Do you really think you can shoot me?"

"Yes." Sam's hands were shaking, but she was confident that she could make the shot—especially since Hanson kept stepping closer to her. "I can. I will."

"Will you?" Hanson stopped moving once his chest was pressed against the barrel of the gun. "I have a hard time believing that you could pull the trigger, Sam."

"I can," Sam repeated. Her whole body was shaking now, and tears were welling in her eyes. She blinked them away, annoyed when they rolled down her cheeks instead of disappearing.

"Do it." Hanson ordered. He pressed further against the gun, holding his body against it. "Shoot me, Sam. DO IT!"

She could shoot Hanson, right? If she pulled the trigger, she would end this whole thing. True, the best thing to do would be to bring him back to the SGC so that he could face Court Martial. Sam had a feeling that Hanson wouldn't go willingly, though. If she shot Hanson now, this would all be over. The people that Hanson had enslaved would be freed, and god only knew how many of these people he had already killed. Hey could go home, and it would be mission accomplished.

No matter how many times Sam told herself to pull the trigger, her finger stayed still. The tears rolled down her cheeks, her hands were shaking so hard that she almost dropped the gun, and still her finger remained poised to shoot… but she never actually pulled the trigger.

Hanson's triumphant smile had more than just a touch insanity. He confidently reached forward and wrapped his hand around the handgun, pulling it out of Sam's grasp. He pushed her back with a hand on her shoulder, and Sam crossed her arms over her chest and didn't bother to wipe her tears away.

"You had the gun," he murmured. "You appeared to have all of the power. And yet…" He gave Sam a meaningful look, set the gun aside, and then abruptly backhanded her across the face.

Sam managed not to fall to her knees, but she stumbled and somehow caught herself against the wall. She tasted blood and touched her mouth; her bottom lip had split.

Sam thought about making some smartass remark about how Hanson waited until they weren't in a relationship to actually hit her, but she decided not to push her luck. She settled for glaring at him as she rubbed her jaw instead, but she didn't feel nearly as much satisfaction.

Now she only had to wait for Jack and the rest of SG-1 to get to her. It was clear that she couldn't stomach the thought of truly harming Hanson to escape, and she wasn't left alone long enough to make a break for it on her own. It killed her to have to rely on someone else to save her, but there weren't many other options at this point.

As soon as those thoughts crossed her mind, there was a commotion at the mouth of the cave. Baker shoved two people forward with their hands bound behind their backs, and Sam recognized them instantly: Jack and Daniel.

"Jack!" Sam gasped, and then let out a curse when her jaw throbbed in response. Pressing her hand to her mouth, she swiveled her gaze towards SG-1's archeologist. "Daniel! What the hell are you guys doing here?"

Jack's eyes were on the blood on Sam's chin and the way she was holding her jaw. "What happened to you?" he demanded. His eyes flashed dangerously as he looked towards Hanson, and his arms jerked as if he could break out of his restraints by sheer force of will.

Sam realized that he was probably referring to the bruises that had most likely developed on her jaw. "We'll talk about it later," she said dismissively as she waved her hand. "Why don't you two tell me what happened?"

They were interrupted by Hanson's hysterical laughter. He stepped between Sam and the two men of SG-1 with a cocky smirk on his face. "Well, isn't this sweet? I'm so glad that I could be here for this little reunion."

Rolling her eyes, Sam couldn't help the way she instinctively stepped back from Hanson. Even so, she hid her fear behind her sarcasm. "Knock it off, Hanson."

"Oh, so it's Hanson now, is it?" Hanson followed her and stepped directly into her space. "After everything we've been through, Sam? Tell me…" His gaze moved towards Jack and Daniel, his eyes scrutinizing. "Which one of these two are you fucking?" Hanson didn't wait for an answer before he said, "It's O'Neill, isn't it? You always had a type, Sam, and it was obvious that I wasn't it."

Sam gaped at him, her mouth opening and closing as her cheeks burned bright red. How could Hanson tell she had an attraction to Jack O'Neill? She refused to believe that he knew her that well, so the only other explanation was that she was that obvious. That wasn't acceptable, especially given the situation they were in.

"Hanson." Jack smiled in an almost casual, friendly manner, but there was a dangerous undercurrent to the way he was tensed. "When I get out of this, I'm so going to kick your ass."

Hanson seemed unconcerned by that threat. "I have no doubt that you will," he said with a shrug of his shoulders. "But it won't matter."

Jack shared a look with Daniel. It was a look of experience, and Sam knew that this wasn't the first time that they had been captured by some power-hungry idiot. It probably wasn't going to be the last time, either.

"And why is that?" Jack asked with a sigh, as if he had asked that same question hundreds of time before.

Hanson gave the answer that they had heard equally as many times: "Because I am a god."

Jack caught Sam's eye and winked; it happened so fast that Sam was almost positive she had imagined it. Then Jack returned his gaze to Daniel. There was a beat of silence, and then the two men burst into laughter.

Their laughter had the desired effect. Hanson looked unsettled by their reaction, and for the first time since Sam had entered the caves and laid eyes upon her ex-fiancé, he seemed ill at ease. Hanson looked back and forth between Jack and Daniel before he turned towards Sam, his eyes a little wider than normal.

"Are they always like this?" Hanson demanded.

Sam shrugged her shoulders and smiled wanly. "They're SG-1. You've heard the rumors."

Hanson had heard the rumors. And he might have had a break with reality, but he knew just what the men on SG-1 were capable of. The entire galaxy knew it, and there were people a lot more powerful than Hanson out there that were afraid of SG-1.

Still, he was a god, and he couldn't be afraid. So he puffed up his chest, grabbed his hand gun, and leveled it at Jack's head. He heard Sam's gasp from behind him, and he smirked. Finally, the ball was back in his court… at least where Sam was concerned. Jack and Daniel looked annoyingly calm and gave no reaction to the fact that he was holding a gun in Jack's face.

"What are you doing?" Sam demanded. Her voice shot up a few octaves, and she was somewhat relieved to feel righteous anger instead of tears. "Are you insane?"

Hanson let out a bark of manic laughter. "I suppose you could call it that, Sam. Here's what you're going to do: you're going to turn on that device, and then maybe I won't shoot your new friends in the head."

"Jonas," Sam tried, her voice frantic and pleading. The whole reason she went to the planet in the first place was to try and reach out to Hanson, get him to see that what he was doing was wrong. In the face of Jack and Daniel life being the hands of Hanson, Sam was just desperate enough to try and get through to him.

It was a mistake to use his first name. He snorted and clicked the safety off on the handgun. "Don't try and play nice with me now, Sam. It's not going to work. Turn the fucking device on. Now."

"Okay!" Sam held her hands up and moved back towards the tunnel that would lead them to the cavern with the device. "Okay, fine."

It was a short walk, and Sam kept staring straight ahead, refusing to look at any of the people she was with. Once in the cavern, she went right over to the device, knelt, reached into the panel, and turned it on.

An orange ray shot out of the device, but it didn't do anything. They all stared at it for a long moment before Hanson grabbed Sam roughly by the arm. Jack and Daniel both let out shouts of protest, but Hanson didn't let go of Sam.

"Why isn't it working?" he ground out, his mouth close to her ear.

Sam shuddered and tried to pull away from him, but he held fast. She didn't think she could handle looking at Jack or Daniel, so she kept her eyes on the orange beam still streaming towards the cavern of the cave. "I don't know."

"You turned it on!"

"Yeah. So?"

"So you must know how it works. Why doesn't it work?"

"I told you, I don't know!" Sam yelled. She yanked harder, and this time Hanson freed her arm. That was one small victory for her, but Hanson had a look on his face that Sam really didn't like.

"Well." Hanson got in her face again standing so close that his putrid breath washed over hr face and she fought not to gag. She heard Jack curse. "That's unfortunate, then."

* * *

So Sam found herself in front of an active Stargate, standing with her hands bound in front of her while Hanson stood gathered with his followers. Jack and Daniel were still restrained, being guarded by Baker. Jack and Daniel still looked supremely unconcerned, but Sam had a feeling that that attitude had something to do with the fact that Teal'c and Kawalsky were suspiciously absent.

"You said you wouldn't kill them if I turned it on!" Sam yelled, her voice full of fear and horror at what Hanson was trying to do. She struggled against the ropes wrapped around her wrists, but only succeeded in chaffing her skin.

"I'm not killing them," Hanson said pleasantly. "I'm just sending them back to Earth."

"Without the IDC, they'll hit the iris and they'll die," Sam snapped. Her heart was thudding so loudly in her ears, it was drowning out the murmurs of the planet's natives around them. "You know that."

Hanson shrugged his shoulders. "Not my problem."

He turned, speaking to his followers about how they were going to be saved and about how he had the power to save them, how it was everything that he did that brought their salvation. Sam was in the middle of an eye roll and Jack was watching her with amusement when Teal'c, Kawalsky, and Connor came crashing through the bushes.

It turned out there was a second device, and it needed to be turned on in tandem with the other one. Both devices turned on, and then the orange beams connected and provided a safe shield for the cave-dwellers to be under. They were now protected from the sun's radiation, and despite the seriousness of the situation, Sam couldn't help but smile for these people.

Hanson was yelling about how they were all demons, how this was just a trick and how they shouldn't trust SG-1. That made Jack throw his bound hands in the air and yell, "Jesus Christ, we're not demons!"

"This isn't magic!" Daniel added once Jack had got the cave-dwellers attention. "This is science! Anyone can work these devices! _You_ can!"

The crowd began to murmur, and it was then that Hanson knew he had lost the crowd. In that same split second, The ropes dropped from around Jack's wrists (Sam spared half a second to be suitably impressed—she wondered if he could teach her how to get out of bindings like that), and he thrust his shoulder back into Baker, easily disabling him.

Hanson grabbed Sam roughly by her hair and hauled her towards him, tipping their combined weight dangerously close to the active Stargate. "I'm taking you with me!" he shouted in her ear.

Sam refused to cry out in pain, and gritted her jaw shut as she threw her body back, hoping to stop Hanson's trajectory towards the Stargate. Hanson was liked a man possessed, though, and it was like Sam's resistance had no effect whatsoever.

A hard body slammed into Hanson and Sam, and they went toppling to the ground mere feet from the Stargate. It was Jack—he kicked Hanson off of Sam and pulled her out of the way as the cave-dwellers descended upon Hanson, fists and feet flying.

Daniel fumbled for the radio he had hidden and hurriedly asked for Hammond to disconnect the Stargate on their end, relaying that they would make contact again in another ten minutes. Another second passed, and the Stargate deactivated. SG-1, Connor, Sam, and Jamala watched for a long beat of silence as the natives on the planet continued to beat Hanson into submission. Then, Teal'c moved forward, purposefully parting the crowd until he could get to Hanson. Despite the fact that Hanson was now quite effectively incapacitated and unconscious, Teal'c restrained him anyway.

Still on the ground with Jack's hands on her shoulders and his body protectively hovering over hers, Sam sat back and dropped her head into her hands. She closed her eyes and breathed in deeply through her nose, willing herself not to throw up.

She felt Jack's hand on the back of her neck, his calloused fingers rubbing comfortingly at the top of her spine. Sam exhaled, and relaxed even further.

* * *

 **eleven.**

Once they established contact with the SGC, Daniel had given the reader's digest version of what had transpired on Avnil. They now had Baker and Hanson in custody, and they were taking the next hour to ensure that the locals were set up before they left. In the coming days, another SG team would come with supplies, and then they would probably leave the people of Avnil alone forever. There really was no risk of the Goa'uld returning—and besides, the SGC had caused enough problems for Avnil, anyway.

Teal'c was showing them how the radiation shield worked, just so that there was more than one person who could operate it. Jamala was already seeing to the needs of his people, and they all had no doubt that he would become a leader among them. Kawalsky was keeping an eye on all of them, just in case any of the small number of Hanson's supporters were thinking about trying to retaliate. Connor was standing guard over Hanson and Baker, and refused to let them out of his sight until they got back to the SGC—he seemed to take direct responsibility for what had happened.

Sam could relate. She hadn't said anything to the lieutenant, and he hadn't said anything to her, either. They had just exchanged a look with honest, painful understanding. That was that, Sam supposed.

She stood to the right of the Stargate, under the shade of some trees, separated from everyone else. She had brushed off Daniel's attempts to talk, and he had nodded in sympathy and then assured her that once she was ready to talk, he would be there.

Sam still wasn't ready to talk about what had made her leave Hanson at the altar in the first place all those months ago. She wasn't sure she'd ever be able to talk about what had happened over the last forty-eight hours.

It took her a few moments, but she realized that Jack was standing behind her. She was too exhausted to jump at his sudden appearance, but she gave him a tired glare. "You really are a ninja, you know," she accused.

Jack's lips lifted just the slightest bit, but there wasn't much to back his barely-there smile. He watched her for a long moment before he reached forward and caught her chin between two of his fingers and his thumb. Sam let him tilt her head to the side, so that her aching, swollen jaw was exposed.

"He did this to you." It wasn't a question, and that dangerous spark of anger was back in Jack's eyes.

Sam nodded her head, but she didn't look into Jack's eyes. Her eyes stayed trained on his chest, and she took a deep breath to say something about how they needed to go home, but what came out of her mouth instead was, "I tried to shoot him."

Jack didn't say anything, but he did duck his head down to catch her eye as he waited for her to speak again. Sam looked into his eyes for a second and then glanced quickly away, unsure of the understanding and compassion she saw there. She looked over his shoulder instead and took a deep, shaky breath.

"I had the gun, and I... I could have ended it. He asked me to do it. I just…" Sam suddenly felt sick again, and she remembered the way her whole body had shook when Hanson had stood in front of the gun she had been holding. She pressed a hand to her stomach, shuddering at the memory.

Jack had a brief thought then: this was why he didn't like to bring scientists out in the field with him. The thought was gone as soon it appeared, and Jack couldn't look into Sam's wounded, tired eyes and not say something to help her.

"It's no badge of honor to kill someone, Sam," Jack told her.

"I know," Sam said immediately. "Of course I know that. I just… logically, it would have been the easiest way to solve this. Those people were enslaved, and he was killing them out in the sun, and… Knowing all of that, all of the people that could have been saved, I still couldn't do it."

Jack recognized what Sam was doing: she was trying to rationalize what she had been through, what it would mean to take someone's life to save hundreds of others. No matter what, no matter how many facts someone put it behind it, it was never easy or even necessarily right to take a life. All the rationalization in the world couldn't take away from the black marks that something like that could leave on someone's soul. Jack would know, better than most people.

"Sam." Jack put his hand on her shoulder and squeezed once. "You couldn't pull the trigger because you're a better person than Hanson." When she peered up at him, with a look of incredulity in her eyes, Jack nodded his head. It seemed trite, but he meant it. "Trust me, I know how that sounds. But it's true."

Sam looked away and tried to pull back, but Jack caught the sheen of tears in her eyes. He put his other hand on her opposite shoulder and turned her back to face him. "No matter what the reason, every time someone pulls that trigger, it's taking another step closer to Hanson. That's not who you are."

Finally, Sam returned her gaze to Jack. She saw the painful knowledge in his eyes, and Sam knew that Jack had much more experience in this area than he would ever admit. Even knowing all of that, even having Jack's reassurance, she still couldn't shake the haunted feeling that she had been carrying ever since she had been in that cave with Hanson.

Standing on that planet, under the orange glow of the protective radiation shield, Jack knew that there was no way he could let Sam go home without reaching out to her, helping her to understand that sometimes horrible shit happened, and she couldn't carry all of the responsibility on her own.

He had no idea why he told her, but Jack had a suspicion that it had something to do with those blue eyes. They were unguarded, open, and completely honest. He hadn't had a whole lot of experience with such understanding in someone's eyes, such open and real sincerity. Jack had known from the second that he looked into those blue eyes that he was a goner.

"My son shot himself with my gun."

Sam's eyes went wide, and he heard her gasp. He returned her gaze without flinching or looking away, and he said, "He was five years old. My wife and I were separated, in the process of divorcing. And she was there to pick him up after my weekend with him, and…"

"Did he…?" Sam was unable to finish the question, but Jack knew what she had meant. It killed him just a little bit more every time he thought about it.

"He did." Jack rubbed the back of his neck and looked away when he saw the tears gathering in Sam's eyes again. There was too much sympathy in her eyes, and there was no judgment for what he was telling her.

"And you…"

"Well, you read the first mission report when we went through the Stargate. I wasn't supposed to come back." He still hated talking about this, but years of listening to Daniel (and sometimes Kawalsky) talk his ear off made it just a little bit easier. He rolled his eyes, trying to get a little bit of levity back into the conversation. "No matter how many times Daniel said it, I still knew that it was… it's my fault. I didn't secure my firearm properly, and…"

Sam didn't know what to say, because there wasn't really anything to say to make this better. Instead, Sam reached up and—well aware that she was probably crossing a line—put her hand on the side of Jack's neck. Her thumb brushed against the edge of his jaw, and she caught the look of gratitude in Jack's eyes.

The moment passed, and she stepped away.

* * *

 **twelve.**

"You purposefully waited until I was out of the room to say that you were going through the Stargate, didn't you?"

For the millionth time since she had first walked into the infirmary, Sam sighed heavily. "Janet, would you just let it go, already?"

Janet pointed at her threateningly with her pen light. "If you ever do something that stupid again, I'll kill you. I mean it, Sam."

"Thanks, Jan. I'm really feeling the love here." Sam pulled the ice pack that Janet had forced upon her away from her jaw, but one look from the red-headed doctor had Sam placing it back on her swollen skin once again.

"Damn it, Sam," Janet snapped. She sat on the hospital bed next to her friend. "You walked right into a dangerous situation with Hanson without any regard for your own safety. You can't just do that, you know."

"Yeah, thanks for that, by the way. You know, telling me that Hanson was stationed here." Sam nudged Janet's shoulder with her own, letting her friend know that she really wasn't that angry.

Janet looked away guiltily for a moment. "I'm sorry, Sam. General Hammond ordered me not to, and I… I shouldn't have listened."

Suddenly feeling very exhausted, Sam leaned back against the pillows stacked behind her. She knew just what it cost Janet to say something about defying orders, and she appreciated the gesture. "Jan, please don't worry about it. I understand. And… it's over now. So let's just forget about it, okay?"

Janet opened her mouth to say something about how that probably wasn't a good idea, how Sam should probably talk to someone, but she stopped when she saw a very familiar form standing in the door of her infirmary. Sensing that a very private conversation was about to take place, Janet squeezed Sam's hand and headed back towards her office.

As she passed Jack, she ordered, "Don't let her take that ice pack off for another two minutes. She gets a fifteen minute break, and then she has to put it back on for another five minutes."

Jack saluted the doctor with two fingers. "Yes, ma'am."

Sam watched the exchange with a half-amused, half-exasperated look. As soon as Janet disappeared into her office, Sam set the ice pack aside. Jack scooped it up and held it back up to her face and couldn't help the amused smirk that crossed his lips at the glare that narrowed her eyes.

"The doc is your best friend, isn't she?" Jack said in defense of his actions. "You know she's scary as hell. There's no way I'm messing with her."

Sam huffed something that sounded suspiciously like a "you big baby" under her breath, but she nudged Jack's hand away and held the ice against her face once again. She winced when the pack hit a particularly tender part of her jaw, hissing as she adjusted the placement.

Jack tucked his hands into his pockets and nodded towards her face, his eyes on the blue and purple bruises he could see blossoming on the delicate skin of her face. "How are you feeling?"

"Fine," Sam said immediately. "It's just a bruise, after all. Though Janet said it should turn a lovely shade of black and blue within the next couple of hours."

Shaking his head, Jack checked his watch and then nodded, indicating that Sam could set the ice pack aside. She did so with a sigh of relief and then lay back further against her pillows. The events of the past two days were really taking their toll on her, and all Sam wanted to do was close her eyes and go to sleep. She could tell that Jack had something important to say, and instead forced her eyes to stay open and trained on Jack.

"I'm sorry," Jack said finally.

"Why?" Sam thought they had gotten over this when they had been standing by the Stargate by Avnil, before they left. "This wasn't your fault. You know that, right?"

"Your safety was my responsibility, Sam. You trusted me. And then you got captured."

"Because I didn't follow orders!" Sam exclaimed. She threw her hands in the air, she wondered just what made Jack O'Neill come down to the infirmary to apologize for her. It didn't seem like the kind of thing that he would do. "I'm assuming Daniel didn't leave that part out."

"He tried to cover for you at first, but he told me what happened." Sam's words had the desired effect, and Jack's unneeded apology was derailed. "What was up with that, anyway? Don't you remember the little chat you and I had before we went off-world?"

Sam sighed and rolled her eyes towards the ceiling. There it was. This was the Jack O'Neill that she knew. "Yes," she said patiently.

"Remind me again: what were those orders?"

"Not to do anything without you telling me to do so." Sam smiled sweetly at Jack, and he couldn't hold on to his feigned annoyance any longer. He chuckled and shook his head, and Sam's smile widened.

"I'm sorry, though," Sam finally said once the moment passed.

Jack's head shot back, his eyebrows going up in surprise. He liked to think that he was pretty good at figuring people out, but Samantha Carter was constantly surprising him. "What do you possibly have to be sorry for?"

"For not following your orders," Sam stated plainly. With both a father and a brother in the military, Sam did have a basic understanding of just how important military protocol was. In defying Jack's orders, Sam had compromised the mission in a way that she was deeply uncomfortable with. She had let her personal feelings get in the way, and she knew it.

"Sam…"

"I compromised your mission, Jack." Suddenly unable to look at him, Sam stared down at her hands again. "I'm sorry for putting you in that position."

"Sam," Jack repeated. He sat on the hospital bed next to her and reached out, as if he was going to put his hand over hers. He seemed to think better of it, and then rested it on the bed next to her leg. "Something tells me that Hanson would have figured out a way to shoot the mission to hell anyway. It wasn't your fault."

"Still, Jack, I—"

Sam stopped talking when Jack held a hand up. "I think the two of us have done enough apologizing today, don't you? Why don't we just agree to… stop apologizing?"

"And stop telling each other that what happened wasn't our faults?" Sam asked with a wry smile.

"Exactly."

Even though Sam knew that it wasn't exactly a good idea, she reached for the hand that Jack still had next to her leg. She wrapped her fingers around his and squeezed. "Thank you."

Jack stared down at where her fingers were holding onto his, and he thought about not saying the words that had suddenly popped into his head. He took a second to run through all the facts in his mind, all the reasons he should or shouldn't tell Sam what was on his mind. He remembered that connection they had on Avnil, and, against his better judgment, spoke anyway.

"Don't do that again," Jack ordered. His voice was quiet, directed at their joined hands.

Sam's brow furrowed. "Do what?" He looked up then and just stared at her, and Sam suddenly understood the meaning behind his words. "Jack…"

He watched her, and even though there were several inches of space separating them, she could still feel his eyes like a caress on her skin. He repeated the order again, although it was really more of a plea. "Don't do that again."

Sam returned the steadiness of his gaze, finding that she was unable to look away. "Okay," she whispered as she squeezed his hand. "Okay."

* * *

 **thirteen.**

"Janet, I can't believe you did this!"

"What?" Janet looked supremely unapologetic as she took a sip of her coffee, and Sam found it to be completely annoying. She was seriously regretting bringing her friend coffee from Karen's Café, given that Janet had gone behind her back and did something that Sam really didn't agree with.

Daniel gestured with his fork between the two women at the table. "I have to agree with Sam, Janet." Janet leveled the archeologist with a glare, and Daniel swallowed his bite of waffle with an audible gulp. "But I guess you were just being a good friend. You know."

"Daniel!" Sam exclaimed. She really thought that he would be on her side, but he just sent her an apologetic look. In retaliation, Sam snatched the coffee cup she had got for him from the café as well, holding it out his reach.

"Sam! Give it back!" Daniel exclaimed as he lunged across the table. He tried to snatch the coffee cup from her grasp, but Sam scooted back in her chair and held it high above her head. It hadn't occurred to Daniel to simply get out of his chair and get the cup from Sam that way, so he leaned further across the table as Sam angled further away from him. He was in serious danger of knocking their plates off of the table, but he seemed much more concerned with his current source of caffeine than with his food.

"Children. I thought we all agreed to play nicely?"

All three occupants at the table looked up at Jack's voice. Kawalsky was standing behind Jack with his hands on his hips, looking entirely too amused. Janet, Daniel, and Sam all froze. They made quite the amusing picture in the middle of the commissary: Janet, who had been leaning back in her chair, laughing loudly at her friends' antics; Daniel, who was almost lying across the table in his effort to get to Sam and his kidnapped cup of coffee; and Sam, with the coffee cup in question held high above her head, pushed back from the table in her chair a good three feet.

Too embarrassed to say anything, the three people at the table remained frozen. Jack took the opportunity to pluck the coffee cup from Sam's hand and handed it back to Daniel. They all relaxed, and Sam pulled her chair back to the table as Jack sat in the only one left. Kawalsky pulled a chair from another table up and spun it around to sit in it backwards, interested in what was about to unfold.

"Sam, you know better than to deprive Daniel of his coffee. It's much safer for all of us if we let the man get his caffeine," Jack playfully chided.

Sam very nearly pouted, but she managed to stop herself just in time. Instead, she stabbed violently at the fruit salad on her plate. "Daniel sided with Janet, and that is unforgivable. Taking his coffee away was the only acceptable punishment."

Daniel held his cup to his chest, curling protectively against himself. "Scary doctor or astrophysicist that steals my coffee? This isn't fair."

"What did the good doctor do to incur your wrath, Sam?" Jack asked as he shared an amused look with Kawalsky.

Sam stared at Janet, who only smiled innocently. Daniel was still protectively holding on to his coffee while he glared at Sam, so he was absolutely no help. Finally, Sam huffed out an annoyed sigh. "Janet set me up on a blind date."

That got Jack's attention immediately, and he sat forward as he swiveled a dark glare towards Janet. Kawalsky barked out a laugh, but he was ignored completely. Janet took note of the look on Jack's face and arched an eyebrow at him.

"Do you have a problem, Colonel O'Neill?" Janet asked. Her voice was amused, as if she knew a whole lot more than Jack was letting on. Jack ignored that and tired to intensify his glare, but it had no effect on the doctor whatsoever. This is what he got for being friends with someone who regularly stuck needles in his ass.

"Why would you set Sam up on a blind date?" Jack demanded.

"Because Sam needs a life!" Janet exclaimed, completely unapologetic. "After everything that happened while you guys were off-world—"

Janet stopped speaking abruptly when Jack's face changed, looking at her with something other than an annoyed glare, while Sam's gaze dropped to her hands. Kawalsky leaned back, holding on to the back of the chair he was sitting in, while Daniel finally uncurled his body and set his coffee cup aside. Kawalsky and Daniel looked between Jack and Sam, while Janet simply waited for one of them to talk first.

It had been two weeks since they had returned from Avnil. Hanson had been put away, and he was never going to see the light of day again. He was no longer going to be causing any problems in Sam's life, and it had taken her over a week to come to terms with that fact. She had spent the past couple of days just enjoying her newfound freedom.

Even though it had been nearly ten months since Sam had fled from her wedding and started at the SGC, she hadn't realized that she had been hanging on to the fear of confronting Hanson again until she had actually done it. There was a weight off of her now, and she was mildly embarrassed to admit that she had been hiding behind her work at the SGC while she licked her wounds. Janet had clearly recognized that fact, and had accordingly set Sam up on a blind date, claiming that she needed to get out more.

"Who's the guy?" Kawalsky asked. It was a good way to deflect from the mention of Avnil, and everything that had happened on that planet. Besides, he wanted to know because it was important to find out who their Sam would be going out with, but also because he was interested to see what reaction Jack was going to have.

Sure enough, Jack didn't disappoint. A vein in his jaw popped out, and one hand clenched into a fist as he leaned forward. That reaction lasted for only half a second though before Jack's expression smoothed over. Sam never saw it, but Kawalsky and Daniel knew Jack well enough to pick up on it.

Janet waved her hand dismissively. "He's an accountant I know. His name is Steven."

"An accountant?" Jack couldn't hold back his snort, even though there was voice in the back of his mind screaming for him to shut the hell up. "Really?"

For reasons that Sam couldn't explain, she got extremely defensive. She pushed aside her half-uneaten breakfast and crossed her arms over her chest. "Why does your voice sound like that?"

"Like what?" Jack asked innocently.

"All judgmental, and stuff. What's wrong with an accountant?"

"Nothing. He just…"

"He just what?"

Daniel, Kawalsky, and Janet watched the back and forth between their two friends with perceptive eyes, smiles on their faces. The whole exchange was entertaining to watch, and Sam and Jack didn't disappoint.

"He sounds boring," Jack finally said. "You just…" He looked at Sam, and then quickly looked away. "You deserve more than boring."

Sam could feel her cheeks turning bright red, and to give herself something to do, she plucked a strawberry off of her plate and bit into it. Another beat of silence passed, where Daniel looked like he was about to start analyzing what had just transpired, while Kawalsky was trying his absolute hardest not to burst into laughter.

"Well," Janet finally said. "Boring or not, I think you should go anyway, Sam. It could be good for you."

"Why?" Sam demanded, well aware of the childish petulance in her voice. Not that she cared much. "I don't need to go on a date."

"Yes, you do," Janet insisted. She could see Jack cross his arms over his chest and sit back in his chair out of the corner of her eye, and she managed to keep her smile hidden. "You need to get a life, Sam."

"I have a life!"

Kawalsky laughed outright at that, while Jack finally cracked a smile. Daniel gave her a sympathetic look. Over the past three years, he had been on the receiving end of this conversation many times.

"There's no use arguing, Sam," Daniel told her. "You might as well go on the date. Then they'll leave you alone for a while, at least."

Sam shot a glare at Daniel. "See if I ever bring you coffee again," she grumbled, because she added, "I do so have a life."

"Come on, Sam." Janet poked at her friend's arm. "Do you even talk to people outside of the SGC? Do you have many friends besides me?"

The words were said purely to get a rise out of Sam, and get her to agree to the date. Sam let it get to her for just a second before she caught Daniel's eye. He smiled at her, lifting his coffee up in a salute. Kawalsky was still laughing, and she could see Teal'c approaching them from across the commissary, and he gave his customary head nod in greeting. Sam looked at Jack, and he grinned at her, and she looked away before her cheeks could turn red again.

"That's not necessarily true," Sam finally said.

For some reason, that seemed to be exactly what Janet wanted to hear. She exchanged a look with Daniel, and Sam saw that the two of them looked entirely too satisfied. Sam furrowed her brow at them, scowling, and they just smiled at her in return.

* * *

 **With regards to the way that Jack opened up to Sam about Charlie: Jack has already been at the SGC for three years, and he's been with Daniel, Kawalsky, and Teal'c the whole time. They've been helping him, so the Jack that we have here isn't quite as angry as a season one Jack. Then, he's presented with Dr. Samantha Carter—a woman that he doesn't have to hide things from or keep strict boundaries with, because she's not in the military. This allows him to open up to her a little more easily. I felt that it was appropriate for Jack to do so here, just in case it seemed a bit out of character for him.**

 **Thanks for reading!**


	5. paint my spirit gold

**I can't thank you enough for your wonderful reviews! I don't think we really got to see a whole lot of SG-1 outside of the mountain, which really led to a lot of missed opportunities with the characters. That's what this chapter is all about. :)**

 **Also, I know I've fudged the characters' ages. It's AU, so I'm just claiming artistic license, or whatever.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own anything. The chapter title comes from the song "I Will Wait" by Mumford and Sons.**

* * *

 **fourteen.**

It was a Friday night, and Sam had been sent home from work early.

This wasn't something she was used to. Sam had never been sent home for working too hard—not in high school, or college, at any of her internships, or even at Area 51. People seemed content to let Sam work as hard as she wanted to, for as long as she wanted. As long as she got her work done, no one seemed to care what she did.

Sam supposed that was the difference between working with people you had no connection to, versus people that cared about you. Jack, General Hammond, and Janet had found her sleeping in her lap on four separate occasions. Twice, she had been with Daniel, after one of their marathon translating/technology sessions.

Jack had yelled at Daniel for pulling Sam into his "bad habits," and Janet had gone as far as to hit Daniel on the back of the head. The second time she and Daniel had been found sound asleep in her lab, General Hammond had ordered the two of them home early the next night and said that they weren't to be back until a "reasonable hour" on Monday morning.

So Sam and Daniel had left at three o'clock on Friday afternoon, with the rest of SG-1 and Janet departing at the usual hour of five. Sam and Daniel had grumbled about it the entire time, gone to the café to get coffee together, and then had gone their separate ways.

Sam was good at everything she did, and that included lazing around during her forced-upon relaxation time. She could binge-watch a TV series (or several documentary specials, depending on her mood) like she was born to do it. Not that Sam was necessarily proud of that fact, but if anyone asked, she could do it.

So Sam spent her afternoon doing some cleaning and paging through a book she had been meaning to read. Sam watched a few episodes of a sitcom that she refused to admit she actually liked, and then she was laying on the couch with the television providing background noise when the front door to her small house swung open, revealing an overly-excited, red-headed doctor.

"Let's go, Sam!" Janet exclaimed as she grabbed Sam's coat and purse and tossed them on the couch next to her. Sam sat up and blinked, watching as Janet buzzed around her living room and Daniel stood behind her, a look of amusement on his face.

Sam was normally pretty quick on the uptake, but she had to admit that she had no idea what was happening. "Jan, what are you talking about? Where are we going?"

Janet had that look on her face that normally proceeded trouble. It was the exact same look that Janet had when they were in college, and Sam had found herself breaking into Janet's ex-boyfriend's frat house to steal some sort of important flag or something because he had cheated on her. It was the same look that Janet had on the night before they graduated, and she had convinced Sam that playing quarters was a brilliant way to end their undergrad career. The raging headache that Sam had the next morning proved that it was less than brilliant, but no one would forget the way that Janet had thrown up into one of the flower arrangements right before she walked across the stage to get her diploma.

Janet shot her best friend a look. "Why do you have to ask questions?" she demanded. "Why can't you just say yes, get your stuff, and get in the car?"

"Because I don't want to get arrested, Janet," Sam deadpanned.

That caught Daniel's interest immediately, and he looked back and forth between the two women with wide eyes. "Arrested? When did the two of you get arrested?"

"We didn't get arrested!" Janet protested. She shot Sam a dirty look, but her blonde friend only held her hands up and smiled innocently. "The police let us go, you know." She pointed at Sam and got that mischievous look on her face again. "You batted those blue eyes of yours, and we got out of there in minutes."

"I did no such thing!" Sam exclaimed. "We just got lucky!"

Daniel was shaking his head, looking between the two of them in disbelief. "I can't believe that the two of you got arrested. Did you get handcuffed?"

Sam shot Daniel a look. "Not all of us have experience getting arrested over two dozen times on other planets, you know."

Daniel waved his hand dismissively. "Those don't count. It only counts if it was on Earth. I've never been arrested on Earth, by the way," he added smugly.

Sighing, Sam stood up and grabbed her coat and purse from where Janet had tossed them onto the couch. "Can you at least tell me where we're going when I get in the car?" Sam asked. "I was told that I was supposed to be relaxing, after all. This is stressful."

That made Daniel laugh outright, while Janet rolled her eyes. "Don't be so dramatic. It doesn't suit you. And what we'll be doing _is_ relaxing."

"In a sense," Daniel said with a snort. He stepped aside and held Sam's front door open for the two women. Sam's eyebrows shot up as she walked past him, towards the large SUV that Janet drove. For such a small person, Janet had always been fond of overly-large cars. The shiny Range Rover was no exception, but Sam had to admit that the tricked-out vehicle was pretty nice.

Sam locked the door behind her and then followed her friends to the Range Rover. "Where are we going?" she asked again. Janet had been her best friend for years, and she had gotten to know Daniel pretty well over the past few months. Sam knew just how to push their buttons, and she wasn't above using that knowledge to her advantage.

Of course, Janet waited until they were in the car and buckled in. Sam was sitting in the passenger seat, and Daniel was in the back, leaning forward with his head between the two front seats so he could still be a part of their conversation. Sam was reminded of a puppy dog—the wide, eager eyes behind the lenses of slightly too-large glasses, his short but messy hair, the easy smile on his face. If Daniel Jackson was asked what kind of animal he would be, he would most certainly be a golden retriever.

"We're going to Jack's house," Janet finally revealed.

Sam jerked in her seat and whipped around to face her best friend so fast, her neck cracked. "We're going _where_?"

"Jack's house," Janet repeated with a smug smile. While on base, Janet always referred to Jack as Colonel O'Neill. He was her superior after all, and she was a professional. Off base, however, they referred to each other by their first names.

Janet had been surprised the first time she had been invited to one of SG-1's infamous team nights. The four men had been going out on missions regularly for about five months at that point, and Janet had seen Kawalsky, Daniel, and Jack in the infirmary at least a dozen times each. Some of their injuries were mild, requiring nothing more than a bandage or a few stitches. Others were more serious, and they had each been bedridden for days at a time. Teal'c had even been in her infirmary three separate times during those first five months, which was really saying something, given his symbiote and the incredible healing powers it provided.

The things that SG-1 had gone through in those first few months weren't easy by any stretch of the imagination. Kawalsky had been shot with a staff weapon, Teal'c had been infected by some weird alien bug, Jack had endured capture and torture, and Daniel had gone through an addiction and then withdrawal from repeated sarcophagus use. Witnessing all of those things, even as their doctor, had given Janet a unique bond with the men of SG-1, and it was one that they all recognized.

Jack had been the one to extend the first invitation, with Kawalsky standing behind him, watching her expectantly. When Janet had shook her head and tried to brush him off (because she felt a little awkward, no matter what her relationship—professional or otherwise—with these men was), Jack had just smiled and said, "We're just getting a couple of beers, doc. Accept the invite."

So she did. From then on, she was friends with them. SG-1 had already been through a lot as a team, and they didn't give their trust away easily. As time went on and SG-1 began to save the world and rescue a countless number of people, Janet was there to patch up every injury, no matter how big or small. She was there for the harder stuff, too. Teal'c didn't say much, but Janet knew just how guilty he felt leaving his son and wife behind while he fought to free his people from oppression. She had been there when Kawalsky had been unable to save a group of villagers—mostly women and children—from a minor Goa'uld system lord. She had seen just how withdrawn Jack got every time his son's birthday or the anniversary of his death rolled around. And Janet had been there with Daniel after his wife had died on Chulak, at the hands of Apophis before she was supposed to be taken as a host to Apophis's mate.

Janet supposed that she was sort of SG-1's big sister (in a way), and god only knew that they needed some sort of influence like that in their lives. She had never seen a group of people so willing to sacrifice their happiness and their safety for others, without any regard for their own health or well-being. It drove her crazy and made her respect them all at the same time.

Janet didn't go to every team night, but she appreciated the times that they invited her. It was always a good time, and they invariably ended up getting too drunk (everyone except Teal'c, of course). They always whined at her to fix their hangovers in the morning, but Janet just smiled, gave them some Advil, told them to hydrate, and left them to sleep it off. Janet couldn't wait to rope Sam into one of those team nights.

"But…" Sam turned all the way around in her seat to shoot a look at Daniel. He was too smug, too amused, and it really irked her. "But why?"

"Team night, of course," Daniel answered.

Sam stated the obvious. "But I'm not a part of SG-1."

Janet snorted at that, and Sam's eyes narrowed. Of course Janet caught the look and commented on it. "Please, of course you are. Unofficially, but it's basically the same thing."

"Janet."

"What?" Janet shrugged her shoulders and executed a tight turn, causing Sam to grab wildly for the oh shit handle above her head. "I'm right, aren't I, Daniel?"

"She's right," Daniel confirmed. "You pass out in my lab, you're a part of my team."

" _You_ passed out in _my_ lab," Sam pointed out. Still, she had to fight to keep the smile on her face from getting too big. She had been a part of the SGC, sure. And she was a part of the science department, and she was a part of the team she led within that department. Now, though, she was a part of a _team_ —a facet of something that actually, really mattered. She felt the warm tingles of happiness spread in her chest, and she fought to push it down, resolving not to get too sappy.

"Same thing," Daniel said with a wave of his hand. "Plus you went off-world with us and got captured. You're officially an unofficial member of SG-1. We have t-shirts."

Janet looked between her two friends in the rearview mirror. "You guys aren't normal," she decided.

Sam opened her mouth to respond to that smart-ass comment, but another thought occurred to her in that moment—one that she missed when Janet and Daniel had come storming into her house, intent on basically kidnapping her. She thought back to that, and then Sam's lips curled up into a smirk of her own.

"So," she said casually. "What, exactly, what the two of you doing together before you kidnapped me?"

Sam was satisfied when both Janet and Daniel blushed in response.

* * *

Having been friends with Jack for years, Daniel had no problem swinging the front door of his house open and walking right in. Janet followed easily, but Sam was more cautious as she stepped into the house, her jacket clutched tightly in her fingers.

Naturally, Jack was right there. He ruffled Daniel's hair, greeted Janet with a brotherly kiss on the cheek, and then turned those fascinating eyes towards Sam. He grinned at her, and she blushed, then cursed the fact that she blushed whenever he looked at her like that. Honestly, what was that? She was a grown woman, and she should _not_ be blushing when a man smiled at her.

Jack hesitated for the briefest second before he reached an arm out and wrapped it around Sam's shoulders. He drew her slowly into his side, squeezing once before he released her. That grin was back on his face, and Sam sucked in a sharp, quick breath. Oh, right. _That_ was why she blushed all the time around Jack O'Neill.

"You managed to convince Sam to come with you guys!" Jack called after Daniel and Janet. The two of them had made their way into the kitchen, in search of some food and alcohol.

"They basically kidnapped me," Sam told Jack.

Of course, Daniel came back into the living room then, with two beers in his hand. He handed one to Sam and took a sip of the other one he had. "We did not. Also, did you know that Janet and Sam have been arrested?"

"Daniel!" Sam shrieked as her cheeks turned bright red. Daniel just grinned at her in that annoying brother-type way, while Jack watched her with interested eyes.

"Arrested?" Jack repeated. "Really? Do tell."

Thankfully, Janet came in from the kitchen then, holding a beer of her own as she munched on a potato chip. She took one look at the three of them and somehow figured out what had happened. Popping the rest of the chip in her mouth, she lightly whacked Daniel on the back of the head.

"I have big needles, you know," she threatened. "Very big needles."

There was something in her eyes, though, something Sam caught and recognized from her best friend: Janet was attracted to someone, and it was all being directed at the archeologist standing in the living room with them.

Sam was unable to keep the smile off of her face, and she looked over at Jack. He seemed to have picked up on the exact same thing she had, and he returned her smile with a slight waggle of his eyebrows. Sam rolled her eyes at that and huffed, which only made Jack's smile broaden.

The entire exchange didn't go unnoticed between their two friends, though they didn't know the reason for it. Janet and Daniel shared knowing, triumphant looks, and then they all took sips of their beers.

Of course, Kawalsky had to come barreling into the room, effectively ruining the moment. "What the hell, you guys?" he demanded. "Are you going to come out to the campfire, or what?"

Jack shot his friend a mildly amused look. He'd never met someone who could take in hard liquor like Kawalsky could, but for some reason, beer went to his head immediately. Kawalsky had exactly two beers already, and was well on his way to drunk. Daniel, as a notorious lightweight himself, was well on his way to following him.

"Some of us would like to eat first, Kawalsky," Janet told him. She turned on her heel and went back into the kitchen while Kawalsky followed her, mimicking her voice in a high-patched manner. Jack sighed and mumbled something about playing babysitter between the children, when Janet yelled, "Sam, come get something to eat! You can't drink on an empty stomach!"

That made Sam roll her eyes, and Jack chuckled and put a hand on the small of her back. "You better go and listen to the good doctor. I find that it's much easier not to argue with her."

"Yeah, well, you haven't known her for over ten years. It kind of rolls off your back after that," Sam said as she let him guide her into the kitchen. As soon as she saw the look on Jack's face, Sam knew that she had accidentally brought the conversation back to place that she really would have rather not, and she instantly regretted it.

"Let's talk about that, shall we?" Jack said with a grin. He looked between the Ph.D. and the M.D., his expression deceptively innocent. "Care to explain what the two of you were doing when you got arrested? And when that incident occurred?"

Kawalsky almost spit out the mouthful of beer that he had just swallowed. "The two of you got arrested?" His eyes went back and forth between the two doctors, wide and interested. "No fucking way."

Janet slapped Kawalsky on the back of the head. "Language, Kawalsky," she scolded, but it had no effect.

Having a hard head, the little bop on the back of the head barely registered with Kawalsky. He just grinned at her, completely unapologetic. "After all those times you gave us shit for getting arrested on other planets, it turns out you and Dr. Carter here got incarcerated right here on good old planet Earth."

"We did not get incarcerated!" Sam protested hotly. "Arrested and incarcerated are not the same thing!"

"Besides, Sam got the officer to let us go, anyway," Janet said. She put a slice of pizza on a plate and handed it to Sam before getting one for herself. Sam groaned when she saw the matching looks on Kawalsky and Jack's face and knew that they weren't going to let go of this any time soon.

"Tell us, Dr. Carter, how did you get a police officer to let you and the good doctor go?" Jack asked. He sounded as if he was barely holding back his laughter, though Sam failed to share his amusement.

"And what did you get arrested for?"

Before Janet could open her mouth to say something else, Sam said, "I'm not talking about this right now."

"Here, have another beer!" Kawalsky pressed another bottle into Sam's hand, even though she was only halfway through her first one. "We'll get it out of you sooner or later."

Sam took the beer, mostly just to get Kawalsky off of her back. Still, she couldn't resist saying, "Has anyone ever told you that you're annoying?"

He grinned at her. If Daniel was like knowing, protective older brother, Kawalsky was the troublesome, mischievous younger brother. "All the time."

* * *

Hours later, they were all still gathered around the campfire. The sun had set long ago, but someone (Daniel had told Sam that it was Teal'c—apparently, he had quite the eye for design) had strung twinkle lights all around the back of Jack's porch and along the fence in his backyard. They brought out snacks and a cooler full of beer so that they didn't have to go back and forth to the house too often.

Teal'c kept a watchful but unobtrusive eye on all of them. He kept forcing bottles of water on Daniel and Kawalsky between all of the beers, so no one got too out of hand. Sam was feeling a pleasant buzz herself, and she knew that she was well on her way to drunk. Janet was pretty much there, and Sam had a feeling that they were both going to be spending the night at Jack's house.

That hadn't exactly been in Sam's plan, but she found that she was unable to care. It might have been the alcohol, or the way they were all talking and laughing around the campfire, or it could have been how Sam was sitting next to Jack at the campfire, and his arm kept brushing against hers. Whatever it was, Sam was suddenly feeling completely at ease with the situation she found herself in.

It was the middle of summer and even though the sun had gone down, it was still sticky and hot out. The heat coming off of the bright campfire was more than enough to keep them warm, anyway. Both of those factors, coupled with the alcohol they had already consumed, had Sam overheating. She pulled off her cardigan, leaving her in a sleeveless white top.

Sam rolled her shoulders and stretched a little, before she reached down by her feet and picked up her beer again. As she took another sip, her eyes drifted towards Jack. She was surprised to find his eyes on her… but as Sam studied him, she saw that Jack's eyes were fixed to a spot on Sam's exposed shoulder.

"How long has that bruise been there?" Jack asked quietly.

"Oh." Sam waved her hand dismissively as she looked down at the bruise in question. It had faded considerably, but the slight discoloration was still noticeable on her pale skin. "It's been there since we got back from Avnil."

As soon as the words left her mouth, Sam knew she had said the wrong thing. The dark look that Jack had on that planet was back, and his fists had clenched once again. Sam's eyes went to the spot in question on her shoulder, and she saw what Jack was seeing: two light bruises peeking out from underneath the sleeve of her top, in the shape of fingers. She had a matching set of bruises on her other shoulder.

The sight of the bruises served really to only annoy Sam. She was annoyed with the whole situation on Avnil, really, least of all because they had discovered that the prolong exposure to the radiation from the sun on that planet had actually led to increased strength for Baker and Hanson. Hence the reason that Sam still had bruises from where they had grabbed her, even five weeks after their return. They weren't regular bruises, they were weird, alien bruises.

"Who gave them to you?" Jack asked.

"Baker," Sam answered immediately. She was smart enough to mention the man that did Hanson's bidding instead of Hanson himself, but Jack wasn't stupid, either.

They hadn't talked much about Sam's first off-world trip since those first few days after they got back. That suited Sam just fine, since she wasn't exactly keen to relieve those two days.

"Sam…" Jack began, but she just held her hand up.

"Jack," she said. "It's just… it's just a bruise. And it's over now. Another couple of days, and these will be gone."

Another beat of silence passed, and Jack lifted his hand. He hesitated for the briefest of seconds before he touched the tips of his fingers to those bruises. That simple touch sent shockwaves through Sam's body, and despite the heat from the fire, she shivered.

Jack looked up at her. "Are you cold?" he asked.

Sam cleared her throat and shook her head. "No, I… no. I'm fine."

Returning his gaze to her shoulder, Jack traced his index finger around the shape of the mark. Sam sucked in a sharp breath, and she immediately looked up to where their friends were situated around the campfire. Daniel and Janet were too busy flirting, and Kawalsky was pushing both of their buttons. Clearly, he was having fun antagonizing the two of them. Either way, the three of them were sufficiently occupied.

Teal'c had seen them, of course, because he never missed anything. He caught Sam's eye and nodded his head once before he pointedly looked away. Sam managed a small smile that she was sure Teal'c caught, even though he wasn't looking directly at her anymore. She looked back at Jack, then, at the way his one hand was clenched, the furrow between his brows, as his other hand gently traced the bruises on her shoulders.

"Jack," Sam whispered.

He looked up at her then, and there was something in his eyes that she couldn't really put a name to. She could feel her heart pounding in her chest, the buzz of alcohol coursing through her system making everything fuzzy, a little swimmy as she stared into his eyes. Or maybe it was just Jack O'Neill throwing her off balance, because she really had no idea what that look meant.

She could see an apology on the tip of his tongue, but Sam covered his clenched fist with her hand. Squeezing once, she smiled at him. He stared at her for another long moment before he pressed his fingers to her shoulder—briefly, with a gentle touch that made Sam's breath catch in her throat. Then his hand dropped away, and he was saying something to Kawalsky.

Sam took another long swig from her beer, and she swore that she could still feel the press of Jack's fingers against her skin.

* * *

 **fifteen.**

Sam and Janet dragged themselves from Jack's guest bedroom the next morning once they smelled coffee brewing. Sam was pleased to find that she didn't really have a hangover—her head ached slightly, and her mouth was dry, but it was nothing that an Advil and a lot of water couldn't fix. She swallowed the two that Janet handed her wordlessly and then went into the kitchen, where the men of SG-1 were fixing breakfast.

"Wow," Sam said appreciatively as she took a seat that kitchen island. Her eyes were sparkling, joking as she took in the way each man was doing something for their meal. "A woman could get used to this."

"Tell me about it," Janet said with a grin. She accepted a cup of coffee from Daniel with a wide smile, and Sam almost missed the coffee that Daniel belatedly pushed towards her because she was too busy smiling dopily at her two friends.

Sam was totally going to grill Janet on the whole thing with Daniel later. For now, however, she was going to keep an eye on the hash browns that Kawalsky was currently in charge of. He was flipping the potatoes—expertly seasoned with salt and pepper—carefully in the cast iron skillet. He inched slightly to the left as Teal'c pulled open the oven to check something, and a heavenly smell wafted out.

"Ooooh." Sam leaned over the counter to try and get a peek at their breakfast. "What's that?"

"It is a roasted vegetable frittata, Dr. Carter," Teal'c said. "It should be completed within the next few minutes."

"Wow, a frittata?" Sam shared an impressed look with Janet.

"T watches a lot of Food Network," Jack revealed as he dumped the used coffee grounds from the coffee maker into the trashcan. Apparently, he was in charge of the most important part of the breakfast—the caffeine. "I wanted to make pancakes, but apparently there was a new recipe that he wanted to try."

"Well, it smells amazing," Sam said. Right on cue, her stomach grumbled loudly, and she pressed her hands to it. An embarrassed flush spread across her cheeks, but Jack just grinned at her. Attempting to hide the fact that her cheeks had just gone from pink to fire-engine red, Sam lifted the coffee cup to her face and drank deeply.

They were half way through breakfast when Janet's phone rang. She answered it and only listened for a second before her serious doctor face came on. She gave a few short directives as she gathered up her purse and jacket, and she hung up with a mildly amused look on her face.

"Siler?" Jack guessed.

"You got it," Janet confirmed. "He fell off of a ladder in the commissary. What he was doing on a ladder in the commissary, I can't even begin to guess. But I'm going to go in and stitch him up and make sure he doesn't have a concussion."

"We'll make sure that the two eggheads get home," Kawalsky said before either Sam or Daniel could mention that Janet was their ride.

"Eggheads!" Daniel protested as he threw a strawberry at Kawalsky. The major threw a piece of pineapple at him return—it quickly dissolved into an all-out food fight, but Teal'c made sure that their ammunition stayed strictly to fruit. Jack mumbled under his breath about how the children were going to clean up, while Sam just rolled her eyes.

Later, after the food fight had come to an end (Sam had almost dumped the jar of grape jelly over Kawalsky's head when he started trying to throw blueberries down her shirt, but they had both been laughing the whole time and had only stopped when Jack threatened to make them clean up their mess with toothbrushes), Daniel went with Kawalsky and Teal'c while Jack took Sam home.

Daniel lived closer to base than Sam did, and Kawalsky had to take Teal'c back anyway, so it only made sense for Daniel to go with them while Jack drove Sam home. There was no point in making Kawalsky circle back over an unnecessary distance. Sam had insisted as much when Kawalsky double-checked to make sure, but Sam suddenly found herself to be… nervous.

Sam typically didn't get very nervous. She had been pretty confident in everything that she did since she was a child, but she had been even more so since she had begun her work at the SGC. She had to be certain in everything that she did, given how many lives were often on the line. Nervousness wasn't really an emotion that Samantha Carter was familiar with.

There was just something about Jack O'Neill, though. He threw her off balance, but not in a bad way. It was in a way that made Sam want more—not that she'd be sharing that information any time soon.

She pushed those thoughts away and climbed into the passenger seat of Jack's truck. At first they didn't say anything, but Jack had turned the radio to a classic rock station.

Sam had no problem sitting in silence, but for some reason she felt the need to say something. The words were out of her mouth before she could really think about it: "Thanks for inviting me last night. I had fun."

Jack looked over at her, his lips lifting up in a small smile. "Yeah?"

"Yeah. Do your team nights always end in sleepovers?"

"Sam, we are men. Men do not have _sleepovers_." Jack looked dramatically affronted, and Sam laughed. Jack chuckled and then added, "Nah, although we were fairly tame last night. Sometimes we'll go out to O'Malley's, sometimes we'll order pizza and watch movie. Other times, well… let's just say that for the first couple of team nights, we acted like we were in college. Though we didn't get arrested, though." He gave her a sly look, his intention clear.

That made Sam laugh once again, and she shook her head. "You can bring it up all you want, but I'm never going to tell you what happened."

"Aw, come on, Sam!"

They were still laughing and playfully arguing when they pulled up to Sam's house. In the middle of their bickering, Sam invited Jack in for coffee. Jack was offering to bring Sam blue jell-o every day if she just told him the story about the arrest, but they both stopped talking abruptly when they saw the older couple standing in Sam's living room.

"Samantha, dear, you aren't going around telling people about that very unfortunate time you got arrested in college, did you?"

Sam blinked. "Mom?"

Jack looked back and forth between Sam and the older blonde woman. Of course, he immediately recognized the man with the blonde woman as Senator Henry Hayes. Still, that didn't stop Jack from repeating, " _Mom?_ "

Elizabeth Hayes smiled winningly at Jack. "I'm Elizabeth Hayes. It's nice to meet you," she said as she shook Jack's hand. She leaned over towards her daughter and whispered (not so quietly), "He's a very handsome young man, Samantha."

Sam's cheeks immediately flushed bright red. " _Mother!_ "

Jack's eyebrows shot up. "Young man?" he repeated.

Henry Hayes was wearing an amused look as he stood up and joined his wife and step-daughter. "Elizabeth, give the kids a chance to come in the house, would you? Hi, Sam," he added as he leaned over and hugged her. "How are you?"

"I'm good," Sam said distractedly. She looked between her mother and step-father and tried to ignore the way that her mother was watching Jack with interested, calculating eyes. "What are you two doing here?"

"George called," Henry said. "Apparently there's some benefit for your top-secret deep-space radar telemetry program. We're hosting it."

"It's in a week, on Saturday night," Elizabeth added. "And you're going to need a dress."

"A dress?" Sam knew she was brilliant, but she had a hard time keeping up with this conversation. She felt like she was missing something, and it didn't help that Jack was still standing next to her. "For what?"

"The benefit, dear," Elizabeth said. She patted her daughter's cheek, and she had the same smile on her face that had been there when Sam had gone shopping for wedding dresses. "Try to keep up."

Jack was unable to disguise his snort, but Henry put a stop to his amusement immediately. "Don't think you're getting off that easily, Colonel O'Neill. All personnel are expected to attend, as well."

Sam shot Jack a smug look, and he rolled his eyes. Either way, Sam was glad that she wasn't going to have to suffer through this alone.

Plus, if this was a formal event, that meant she was going to get to see Jack in his dress blues… that alone was reason enough to go.

* * *

 **sixteen.**

"General Hammond, do we really need to go to this thing?" Jack asked. He was barely able to keep the whine out of his voice, and of course the general picked up on it. He had been working with Jack for years now, after all. He knew how to read his second in command, and he was well aware of the fact that fancy dinners and dances weren't exactly in Jack's repertoire.

"I don't know why you're complaining, Jack," Kawalsky said. They were in an unofficial meeting in regards to the benefit that coming weekend. As the flagship team, SG-1 was certainly expected to attend, even though most of the people at the benefit had no idea what they actually did.

They were still waiting for Teal'c, Sam, and Janet to arrive. Sam had been invited to the meeting because in addition to being one of the heads of the science department, her mother and step father were hosting the benefit. Janet was going to be there because she was the CMO, and her attendance was expected at the benefit as well. Even though it was top secret, the SGC was still a government program and they still needed funding from people who were willing to donate. They all needed to understand their roles for the night, and General Hammond knew that he had to lay down a few ground rules. He knew how SG-1 got, after all, and he had no doubt that the four men were more than capable of roping Sam and Janet into their antics, no matter how professional they all claimed to be.

"It's going to be a party." Kawalsky looked unconcerned about the fact that he was going to have to spend his Saturday night wearing his dress blues and schmoozing with politicians and the upper crust of government officials. There were rumors that the President was going to stop by, even. "It'll be fun. Just relax."

Jack shot Kawalsky a look. "You'll use any excuse to party. Besides, I bet you've already coerced one of the nurses into going with you to this thing."

"Oh, is that what you're worried about?" Kawalsky looked gleeful, and Daniel was already snickering into his hand. He knew what was coming. "You want to find a date to this thing? Just ask Sam."

It took a lot to throw Jack off, but if there was anyone who knew how to do it, it was the three men on his team. Kawalsky knew better than anyone else, given that he had known Jack for at least twenty years. Jack's mouth dropped open as Daniel laughed outright. Even General Hammond looked amused, but he had the good grace to hide his grin behind a file folder.

"Major!" Jack finally barked. He was unable to say anything else, because he was too busy trying to wrap his mind around the fact that Kawalsky had just suggested he asked Sam to the benefit. As his _date_.

Why did that outlandish suggestion make him feel like he was in high school again? This wasn't the prom, or anything like that. He was forty years old, for crying out loud. He didn't need to be nervous about something like this. And why did it suddenly seem like such a good idea? Why was he actually considering doing it?

It was those big blue eyes, Jack knew. Those eyes could make him do just about anything, and he was going to have to come to terms with that fact sooner or later.

"What?" Kawalsky shrugged his shoulders and grinned. "It was just an idea."

"What's an idea?" Sam asked as she came tearing into the briefing room. Janet was close behind her, and Teal'c came strolling in a few moments later. Sam was the only who looked flustered at their tardiness, with strands of her blonde hair fluttering around her face. She had the same look on her face ever since Jack had dropped her off on Sunday and found her mother and step father in her house.

Elizabeth and Henry were staying in a suite at the hotel where the benefit was going to be held, but that hadn't stopped Elizabeth from monopolizing Sam's attention every night after she had gotten home from work. They hadn't even gone shopping for a dress yet—that would be happening that afternoon, but Sam was too busy pretending that she wasn't going to have to suffer through that excursion. At least Janet would be there with her.

"Having pigs in a blanket as an appetizer!" Daniel blurted loudly. He had taken pity on Jack. It was clear that the poor man had no idea what to do in his regards to his feelings for Sam, and Daniel was one of his best friends. Daniel had a feeling that Saturday night would be the perfect time to get Jack to make some sort of move with Sam. He'd allow Jack this relief for now, but that didn't mean he wouldn't meddle when the benefit actually rolled around.

Thankfully, Jack didn't seem to realize that Daniel had any ulterior motives. He shot the archeologist a grateful look and nodded his head emphatically. "Pigs in a blanket," he repeated. "Delicious."

Sam gave him a strange look as she sat next to him at the briefing table. "Something tells me that that's not exactly the type of food that my mother had in mind when she started planning this event." She got an evil little smile on her face then, and Jack had to look away, just in case she figured out that he was now turned on. "But it actually sounds like a good idea, so I say we should approve it."

General Hammond looked like he was about to combust due to his efforts not to laugh. He was extremely perceptive and he had known his people for years, and knew exactly what was going on. He didn't become the head of the most top secret organization in the world for nothing, after all. There was a certain power of observation that had to go with the job, and it was something that George Hammond excelled at.

Half of the general's face was still hidden behind the file folder that held the plans for the benefit—the menu, the band, the speakers that would talk about the program without giving too much away. Finally, he cleared his throat and was unable to resist shooting a meaningful glance at Jack.

"I think we can work something out with regards to the appetizers, but that's not why we're here," General Hammond finally managed once he got his laugher under control.

Jack jumped at the change of subject and returned to his original complaint. "Do we really need to do this, General? You don't need us for the benefit, right?" he asked hopefully. He knew it was a long shot, but he still had to try, anyway.

"Jack." General Hammond gave his second in command a mildly scolding look. "You are part of the flagship team. You need to be there, whether you like it or not." He turned to everyone else in the room, taking them all in with his steady gaze. "Just because we're a top secret government facility doesn't mean that we don't' have benefactors and people who make sure that we get the funding that we need. We have to show up to things like this. It's part of the job."

Daniel understood, of course; as an archeologist, he had tried many times to get grants for his research before had eventually joined the SGC. Teal'c didn't understand any of this, but he would do what was asked of him without question. Kawalsky loved any excuse to party, and so did Janet, so there would be no protests from either of them. Sam was used to this whole thing, since she had grown up with it. Jack was the only one visibly uncomfortable with the benefit that would be taking place on Saturday night, and they all knew it.

"Come on, Colonel," Janet finally said. "It could be fun!"

Jack short her a look and leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms over his chest defensively. "You're just like Kawalsky," he accused. "You just want to go to the party."

"So?" Janet shrugged her shoulders. "It'll be an open bar, right?" She looked to Sam for confirmation, and the blonde nodded her head.

"My mother wouldn't allow anything less," she assured Jack. "So…" She hesitated for only a brief second as she looked between all of the men of SG-1. Then, she made her suggestion. "I'm sure Henry wouldn't mind providing us with a car service for the night. That way, we won't have to worry about anyone driving on Saturday."

"Excellent idea, Sam," Kawalsky said. He clapped his hands together and smirked, and Jack couldn't help but notice that the smug look was directed mostly at him. "So it's settled, then?"

General Hammond had that look of amusement on his face once again, and he shook his head. "Someone needs to make sure that you all don't get out of hand." He was looking at Teal'c as he spoke, and the Jaffa nodded his head solemnly in return.

Daniel, Janet, and Kawalsky—the three troublemakers—all gave him identical looks as they blinked at him with wide-eyed innocence. Finally it was Daniel who spoke, with feigned ignorance: "What could you possibly mean by that, General?"

* * *

"Mother!" Sam sighed as she picked up her pace, almost at a light jog in an effort to keep up with her mother. The way that woman could walk in heels was truly something else. She could hear Janet cackling behind her, and she tossed a glare over her shoulder before she turned back towards Elizabeth.

"Samantha, there were at least two other dresses that I wanted you to try, and we have a limited amount of time before our dinner reservations." Elizabeth shoved the dresses she had already collected into Sam's arms and then directed her towards the fitting rooms. "Janet, I trust you'll make sure Samantha tries on each of these gowns?"

"Absolutely, Mrs. Hayes," Janet confirmed with a little salute.

Sam muttered a colorful curse under her breath as she stepped into the dressing room. Elizabeth arched an eyebrow and said, "What was that, dear?"

Sam was thirty years old, but being reprimanded by her mother could still make her feel like a small child. She sighed before she called, "Nothing, Mother!" Janet was laughing again, and it was a good thing that there was a dressing room door separating her from her best friend, because her glare would probably put the good doctor six feet under.

Elizabeth bustled away, in search of the other dresses she had spotted on the floor of the high-end department store they were in. Sam sighed heavily as she stripped and reached for the first dress that her mother had chosen for her—Elizabeth had picked gowns all in light, flirty colors. Being blonde with blue eyes and a porcelain complexion, Sam looked good in just about anything. Elizabeth always preferred her daughter to wear pinks and purples, which was the exact opposite of what Sam really liked to wear. Still, she knew that she had to humor her mother, and would try on those gowns before she got to the ones that had actually caught her attention.

By the time Elizabeth had returned, Sam and Janet had already gone through three dresses. They had shot each down for a number of reasons: the sleeves were awful, the color washed her out, the cut was all off. Elizabeth encouraged her to keep trying on gowns, but there was one in particular that had caught Sam's eye.

The navy blue color was exquisite, and the modest cute of the front was made sexy enough with the small spaghetti straps that went over the shoulders. When Sam saw the open back of the gown, however, she had immediately shied away from it. Janet had seen Sam eyeing the dress and had added it to her pile without any hesitation, claiming that Sam had to try it on for fun. It was the dress Sam had decided to pull on now, because she was certain that it wouldn't work, and Elizabeth and Janet would just tell her to try on another one.

That wasn't the reaction that Sam got when she stepped out of the fitting room, however. They both stared, wide-eyed as Sam turned in front of the three-way mirror. Sam smoothed her hands over the front of the dress and finally looked at her reflection, surprised at what she saw: she looked confident, beautiful, and sexy.

"Elizabeth, if you don't like this dress, I'm buying it for Sam anyway so she can wear it on Saturday no matter what you say," Janet said seriously.

Elizabeth shook her head, and then hugged her daughter tightly. "No, you're absolutely right, Janet. This dress is perfect." Then she got a secretive little smile on her face, and it was one that instantly made Sam wary. "Sam, you're Colonel O'Neill won't know what to do with himself when he sees you."

Janet was laughing madly at that, while Sam flushed. " _Mother!_ "

* * *

 **seventeen.**

Jack O'Neill felt oddly at ease in his dress blues.

He supposed that would be surprising information to some people, but the truth was that the uniform was like another skin to him. He had worn it on many occasions—some good, and some not so good. The uniform had been with him through so much, and maybe one of the reasons that Jack liked it as much as he did was because he could put on a mask and hide behind it.

When Sam stepped out of her house, however, not even the uniform could save him. Everything he was feeling was written on his face in that one moment, and he was damn glad that she wasn't close enough to see it.

Janet was behind Sam, wearing a strapless black dress with her red hair curling around her shoulders. While dress blues had been mandatory for the enlisted men working at the SGC, the enlisted women had been given the choice to wear their uniform or the formal wear of their choice. (Jack wasn't about to complain about that, because he would put his uniform on over a tuxedo any day.) Even though Janet looked stunning, Jack had eyes for no one but the blonde astrophysicist.

Standing on her front porch, Sam was trying to adjust the wrap around her shoulders. It had somehow gotten tangled around her elbows, and she stopped and laughed as Janet helped her straighten it out. She was wearing a navy blue dress with a square neckline, with her blonde hair swept up and off of her shoulders.

As clichéd as it was, Jack was mesmerized. He knew he was staring, but he couldn't seem to make himself stop. He only managed to tear his eyes away when Daniel poked him in the side.

"Jack. You're staring."

"Daniel. You're being annoying," Jack retorted immediately. Still, it was enough to make Jack close his mouth and try to look nonchalant as possible as Sam and Janet reached the limo that Senator Hayes had provided for them for the night.

Sam slid into the open seat next to Jack, while Janet sat on the opposite side, next to Daniel. The archeologist smiled at the doctor before he leaned over and shyly kissed her cheek. Sam sucked in a sharp breath and instinctively grabbed Jack's arm, jerking her head towards their friends.

"What?" Jack asked in amusement.

"Look!" Sam hissed. She still held on to Jack's forearm, squeezing slightly as she glanced meaningfully towards Janet and Daniel. Their heads were ducked close together, and it was clear that they were much more intimate with one another than what they displayed while they were at work. "I knew there was something going on with them!"

"Yeah," Jack said. "I know." He had known since Daniel had come to him six months ago, debating on whether or not he should ask out Janet. Jack had listened to Daniel debate the pros and cons of dating the doctor for fifteen whole minutes before he had interrupted him and said, "Space Monkey, if you like her, just ask her out. It's not that hard." Surprisingly, Daniel had taken Jack's advice, and their fledgling relationship seemed to be going well.

"You _know_?" Sam repeated. Her grip tightened on Jack's arm, and he reached over to pat her hand.

"Yes, and I'll tell you all about it later."

Sam's eyes narrowed. "Don't tease me."

Jack tried to convince himself that it was just because she was sitting next to him in a gorgeous dress, but those words brought an entirely different scenario to his mind: one with a bed, and nothing between them but skin. He looked away from her, but not before he squeezed her hand and released her.

Thankfully, Sam hadn't really seemed to notice his reaction. She had leaned over Jack to tease Kawalsky about how she had never seen him look so put together, and then Jack caught her scent—something tropical, citrusy, and it drove Jack crazy.

Sam Carter was going to kill him.

* * *

It only became more apparent that Samantha Carter was going to be the death of him when they got out of the limo.

Janet and Daniel went first, with Kawalsky, his date, and Teal'c following behind them. Jack got out of the limo first, and then he offered his hand to Sam to help her climb out.

She gave him a smile as she stepped out of the limo as if she had been doing it for years. She probably had been, Jack reminded himself, given that her step father was a senator and her father was a high-ranking general.

Before Jack could return her smile, Janet called Sam's name. She released Jack's hand and went over to her friend, and then Jack caught sight of the back of her dress. He nearly choked on the air he was breathing.

It was backless.

Two delicate spaghetti straps were the only things that connected the front of the dress to the back, and the exposure of the dress stopped at the small of her back. Once again, Jack knew that he was staring, but he couldn't seem to make himself stop.

He didn't know how he managed to recover, but he did. He caught up to his friends, his eyes on the exposed skin of Sam's back as they approached the entrance to the hotel. Kawalsky and his date went in first, with Teal'c following behind them, hands clasped behind his back. Daniel had held his arm out to Janet, and she had taken it, kissing his cheek just as he had done to her in the limo earlier. They left Sam and Jack standing in front of the entrance together, and Jack knew that his team had done it on purpose.

It was a bad idea, Jack knew. It was seriously such a bad idea, but it wasn't going to stop him from offering his arm to Sam. He stopped next to her and did exactly that, arching an eyebrow at her.

He was gratified when a slight flush suffused across her cheeks, and then she tucked her hand into his elbow. They entered together.

* * *

It should be illegal for someone to look that good, Sam thought.

And here she was, in a backless dress, on his arm as they walked into the ballroom together. She felt kind of stupid and ridiculously excited at the same time, and she tried her hardest not to look too closely at Jack, in case he figured her out.

Luckily, a distraction was provided in the form of her mother as they entered the ballroom. It was like she had been waiting for Sam to arrive. Elizabeth eyes immediately zeroed in on her daughter, and the look that sparked in the blue orbs identical to her daughter's was one that made Sam want to turn around and run away.

Jack seemed to sense the way she tensed, because he put his other hand over where hers was tucked into the crook of his elbow. He squeezed her fingers gently, and Sam couldn't resist looking up at him and smiling.

"Samantha!" Elizabeth greeted enthusiastically. "You look beautiful!" She kissed both of her daughter's cheeks, and then offered her hand to Jack. Without letting go of Sam, he gallantly kissed the back of Elizabeth's hand, and she laughed heartily. "Of course, Colonel O'Neill, you look very dashing."

"You do," Sam confirmed without thinking. It was true, after all. The dark blue material of his jacket stretched over his broad shoulders, and the impressive number of medals he had were lined up perfectly on his chest. Her father was a general, so it wasn't like she had never seen a man in uniform before. There was something innately impressive about Jack O'Neill, and the effect was quite breathtaking.

Jack looked pleasantly surprised by Sam's admission, and he opened his mouth to say something. Elizabeth cut him off when she called a greeting to someone else, and she grabbed her daughter's arm and tugged her away from Jack.

"I'll bring her back in just a moment, Colonel O'Neill." Elizabeth was talking a mile a minute as she dragged Sam away. "There's just an old family friend that we need to say hello to."

As Elizabeth towed her daughter across the ballroom, Sam plucked a glass of champagne off of the tray of a passing waiter. Elizabeth was chattering the whole time, even as Sam attached the glass to her lips and drank deeply from it.

"She's going to need you tonight, you know."

Jack jumped just the slightest bit when he looked down and saw Janet standing at his elbow. "Christ, Janet!" Jack grumbled. Sam might claim that he was like a ninja, and while it was certainly true—he wasn't trained in Black Ops for nothing, after all—he had nothing on Janet Frasier. The woman had impressive ninja skill all her own, ones that surpassed even Jack's. She needed them for when she was sneaking up on people who didn't follow her medical advice.

"What?" Janet shrugged her shoulders unapologetically and took a sip from her own glass of champagne. "I'm just saying."

Jack's eyes narrowed at the red-headed doctor. "What are you talking about, anyway?"

"I'm just saying, this is like Sam's worst nightmare. Her mother is breathing down her neck, and she's been forced into a fancy dress while she has to talk to people that she doesn't necessarily like. Sam's probably going to need some extra support tonight."

"Isn't that your job?" Jack asked mildly. He didn't even know why he was bothering to protest the opportunity of spending more time with Sam. He just supposed that he didn't want to make himself completely obvious, and that included to his friends.

Janet snorted, and Jack knew that he hadn't succeeded. The doctor knew just about everything in his life, whether he wanted her to or not. It was honestly no surprise that she had guessed at his feelings for Sam.

"We all have to take our turns to make sure that Sam doesn't get cornered by too many stuffy politicians," Janet told him. She patted Jack's arm, her eyebrows arched. "I'm sure it'll be no trouble for you."

She left Jack with his thoughts then and crossed the ballroom to where Elizabeth and Sam were standing. Jack watched as Janet smoothly inserted herself into the conversation that Elizabeth was carrying on the old family friend, and it was only a few moments later that she steered Sam away. Not five minutes after that, however, Elizabeth was approaching with yet another person for Sam to talk to.

An hour later, Jack fully understood what Janet had meant when she said that they were going to have to run interference for Sam. It seemed that she barely got any time for herself before someone else was swooping down on her, demanding her attention.

Not only was she a member of a fairly powerful political family, she was a brilliant scientist that had been working with the SGC for years, and had finally been stationed at the actual facility. Even though everyone thought they were only doing deep space research, people still wanted her opinions and wanted to ask her questions. Sam wore a polite, friendly smile as she answered them all, but Jack could see that all of the attention was beginning to wear on her. It especially got to Sam when her mother was the one facilitating the conversation. Jack saw Senator Hayes intercepting his wife several times in an effort to give Sam a break, but it seemed that Elizabeth was a woman on a mission. She wasn't going to miss the chance to socialize her daughter at a fancy fundraising event.

Janet was good at steering Sam away from people disappearing for a few minutes. Teal'c simply stood behind Sam until whoever she was talking to got intimidated and ran away. Daniel and Kawalsky took turns dancing with her, but they went about it in different ways: Daniel talked the ear off of whatever politician Sam was chatting with before he whisked her away for a dance, while Kawalsky simply cut in with a charming smile and spun Sam onto the dance floor.

Jack knew it was his turn. He hadn't missed the less-than-subtle hints Kawalsky had been dropping, and Jack had also been the target of Teal'c's raised eyebrow more than once in the past fifteen minutes.

So Jack finished his drink and strode across the ballroom, his steps confident and his smile easy. He had the element of surprise on his side; Sam had no idea he was approaching, and she looked genuinely surprised when he touched her elbow.

"Colonel O'Neill!" Sam exclaimed. Her smile remained polite, but her blue eyes flashed happily. "Congressman Whittaker was just telling me about his coin collection!"

"Coin collection?" Jack repeated. They were here for a fundraising benefit, and this man was talking to Sam—one of, if not the most, brilliant minds present—about _coins_? It appeared that Jack had picked the perfect time to intervene. "Wow. Sounds _fascinating_."

Sam pressed her lips together in an effort to keep herself from laughing. She had heard the same tone of voice whenever Jack got fed up in a briefing, when a scientist (or Daniel) went on for too long. She was distracted from that train of thought when Jack slid his hand to the small of Sam's back, with his warm palm pressing against her bare skin. Sam inhaled sharply and then pressed her lips together for an entirely different reason.

"Sorry to interrupt, Congressman, but Dr. Carter here promised me a dance and I've come to collect," Jack said smoothly. He took Sam's other hand and began to steer her towards the dance floor, indicating that he wasn't going to let Whittaker get in the way of their chance to get on that dance floor.

Whittaker gave them a knowing smile that both Jack and Sam ignored. They headed out towards the edge of the dance floor, away from the prying eyes of the people in the middle but in a spot where it was obvious that they didn't want to be interrupted.

Jack's hand slid around her waist, pressing against the bare skin of her back again. He took one of Sam's hands in his other one, while her opposite hand slid over his shoulder. There was a perfectly respectable amount of space between them, but Sam was still ridiculously aware of Jack anyway. The heat coming off of his body was distracting her in a way that Sam wasn't familiar with, and she took a deep breath as they began to sway.

It took a few moments, but Sam realized that they were moving in actual dance steps, as opposed to just swaying on the floor. She looked up at him, suitably impressed. "You know how to dance?" she asked. As the daughter of an Air Force general and the step-daughter of a senator, Sam was more than familiar with several ballroom dances.

"I've learned a few things over the years," Jack said. He swiveled her across the dance floor expertly, and Sam was entirely too aware of the way the pads of his calloused fingers pressed against the bare skin of her back. She matched his steps easily, as if they had always moved together like this.

They didn't say anything after that, and Sam couldn't decide if she liked that or not. The silence between them was comfortable, but there was a subtle undercurrent of tension, and it was something that put Sam on edge. She could only think about the way her back was exposed, the way that Jack's hand was pressed against that skin, the way the front of his broad chest brushed against hers as they swayed together.

The song they were dancing to ended, but the band seamlessly blended it into the next one. Jack didn't say anything and he didn't try to pull away; neither did Sam. In fact, Sam believed that they would have stayed on that dance floor for an embarrassingly long stretch of time… had it not been for the familiar voice that interrupted them.

"Sammy! How are you?"

Sam lifted her head from Jack's shoulder (Wait. When had that ended up there?) and looked at her father. Her mouth dropped open and her entire body—still wrapped in Jack's arms—froze. Jack, for his part, noticed Sam's obvious tension and stopped dancing, but didn't let go of her.

"Dad?" Sam finally said. "What are you doing here?"

* * *

Jack had known that Sam's father was a general in the United States Air Force, of course. But knowing that and actually being confronted by the fact were two totally different things—especially when he had said general's daughter in his arms as he danced with her.

Major General Jacob Carter looked perfectly serene as he watched his daughter dance with a colonel that was ten years her senior. Jacob had been there for a few hours and was only just now managing to get enough time to finally greet his only daughter. In the interim, however, he had seen her dance with several people, but he hadn't seen anything like what he had witnessed while Sam had been in the arms of one Colonel Jack O'Neill.

Being his daughter, Sam knew exactly what her father was thinking. Still, she couldn't bring herself to step away from Jack, and he hadn't quite dropped his arms from around her yet. Now that she was over her shock at her father's sudden appearance, Sam was able to match his casual look, and she smiled sweetly. She had no problem waiting for Jacob to be the first to talk; she had a lot of practice waiting while she was a teenager, after all.

Jacob knew precisely what his daughter was doing, but he had no problem being the one to give in. The little shock of his sudden appearance was still more than enough, so Jacob was convinced that he had the upper hand anyway. "Henry invited me," Jacob finally told his daughter in answer to her original question. "And I couldn't leave George to suffer alone through this whole benefit thing."

Sam rolled her eyes and unconsciously tightened her fingers around Jack's hand. Jack suddenly became very aware of the fact that his arms were still loosely wrapped around her, with his hand still pressed to the naked skin of Sam's back, but no matter what he tried, he couldn't quite order his brain to let go of her.

"I don't think anyone is suffering, Dad," Sam stated dryly.

Jacob eyed the hands Jack still had on his daughter. "I guess not," he said in a tone that matched hers.

Finally, Jack came to his senses. He gave the older man a half-hearted salute—he was horribly delayed, and he had just been dancing with his daughter, after all—and smiled winningly. "Dad!" Jack exclaimed, deciding that going overboard was better than nothing. "Nice to meet you! I've heard nothing but good things!"

Jacob looked like he didn't want to be amused, but a smile tilted his lips anyway. He shook his head and then clasped Jack's hand, accepting his handshake. So what if he squeezed a little harder than usual? Jacob honestly wasn't surprised when Jack wasn't the least bit fazed by it.

"Colonel O'Neill, right?" Jacob asked casually. "SG-1, correct?"

Sam was a consummate professional, but this was an odd situation for her. So she felt totally justified when she heard her father mention the secret designation of the SGC's flagship team, especially given the fact that most of the people in attendance had no idea that their program was actually called Stargate Command. "Dad! _Really?_ "

"What?" Jacob shrugged his shoulders unapologetically. "I've seen the files, Sam. I know _exactly_ want goes on in that mountain."

It was easy for Sam to catch the tone of her father's voice. It was clear that he wasn't happy about what she had been through at the SGC since leaving Area 51. Given that she had been at the SGC for almost a full year and had received only one serious injury from the orb, she considered herself to have a very good track record—recent capture by her ex-fiancé not withstanding.

"Dad," Sam repeated with a heavy sigh. First she had to deal with her mother at this benefit, and now she had to come to terms with the fact that her father knew everything about her top secret career (Jacob had connections, after all. Sam honestly wasn't that surprised that Jacob had gone out of his way to find out everything he could about the SGC). This was just all sorts of unfair, and it made Sam desperate for another glass of champagne.

"I've already talked to George about it, sweetheart," Jacob told her. "But I thought I'd have a chat with the man who took you on one of his missions and was responsible for you getting captured." His eyes grew dark, and he shot a look at his daughter. It was clear that he had seen the mission report from Avnil, and he wasn't happy about it. "We're going to have a chat about that whole mess with Hanson, by the way."

"Dad, this really isn't the time or the place—"

"It's okay, Sam," Jack finally said. Sam glanced at him and saw that he was smiling, his amber eyes twinkling. It made her grit her teeth and roll her eyes, which only made Jack's smile broaden. The man was infuriating, truly, and part of her wanted to throw her hands in the air and stomp away. The other part of her knew that there was no way she could leave her father alone with Jack O'Neill.

Jack knew where Jacob was coming from, and he caught the look in the older man's eyes, the one that said, "take care of my baby girl _or else_." Jack nodded his head and was surprised—and a little pleased—when Jacob grinned and nodded in return.

Sam might not have known what the silent exchange between the two men was about, but she had caught it. She huffed, annoyed with herself at being secretly pleased that Jack seemed to get along with her father.

* * *

Sam lasted for another hour and a half at the benefit before she hit her threshold. She could see it in the faces of almost everyone on SG-1. In fact, Kawalsky was really the only one who seemed okay with staying, and when they were all gathered by the bar, Sam asked him why.

Kawalsky gave them all a smirk, and he waggled his eyebrows. That look made Daniel and Jack groan in unison, because they knew just what Kawalsky had done to make this shindig a little more bearable. Teal'c just raised an eyebrow, while Janet looked blankly at the men. She looked towards Sam to see if she knew, but Sam shrugged her shoulders.

"You did something inappropriate, didn't you, Kawalsky?" Janet finally said. Given SG-1's track record, it was a natural assumption. They had been unusually well-behaved during this benefit as it was. Statistically speaking, one of them was bound to make some sort of indiscretion.

Kawalsky had no remorse as he shrugged his shoulders. "I just made excellent use of the coat closet, that's all."

"The coat closet…" Sam repeated. Her eyebrows arched up, and she looked at Jack.

He chuckled, unable to find her naiveté to be anything other than cute. She had to have been to hundreds of these things since her mother had married the senator, but it was clear that Sam hadn't rebelled at any of them. "With the nurse that he brought as his date," Jack clarified.

Realization hit Sam, and she blushed even as she rolled her eyes and shoved Kawalsky on the shoulder. "Oh, honestly, Kawalsky. Really?"

"What? It made the night way more interesting, if you must know."

Janet poked Kawalsky hard in the other shoulder. He winced and batted her hands away, but she poked him again. "Don't you dare break another one of my nurse's hearts, Kawalsky. You're a hazard to my infirmary."

Daniel was blushing slightly as well, but he was looking at Janet with interest. "The coat closet, huh?"

"No way, Daniel Jackson," Janet said firmly as Sam and Jack laughed out loud. "I'm a classy woman. If we're going to mess around, it's going to be in a nice place."

"A nice place?" Daniel repeated. "What does that even mean?" His mind was too busy spinning with the fact that Janet would even think about sneaking away from a fancy event for a little intimate rendezvous. He was a smart guy, but he was having a bit of trouble keeping up.

"Oh, Space Monkey," Jack said with a chuckle as he patted Daniel's shoulder. "You've got a lot to learn."

Daniel shot Jack a glare and opened his mouth to retort, but Sam held her hands up. "I think that's our cue to end the night." She winked at Janet, and the red-headed doctor shot her best friend a thankful look.

Daniel shut up immediately, because he knew that he was going home with Janet and that there would be very good things in store for him. Kawalsky had no problem leaving either, since he still had the nurse he brought with him. Teal'c just nodded his head and said, "Indeed," mildly.

Sam knew that she was taking the coward's way out, but she said goodbye only to her father, Henry, and George. They had been on the other side of the bar, catching up and telling stories of the "good old days." Sam asked Henry to tell her mother that she said goodbye, and all three of the older men grinned at each other. They knew that Sam was trying to make a quick escape, and they mercifully let her get away with it.

The group headed out to the limo that had pulled up front to wait for them. Teal'c was dropped off first, as the mountain was the closest. Kawalsky and his date were next, followed by Daniel and Janet. They had gone to Janet's house, so Sam's was the next destination, as her place was closer to Janet's than Jack's. The goodbyes in the limo had been a little silly and prolonged, given that they would all be seeing each other at work on Monday. Maybe it was because they had deviated from the norm, and were dressed up and had great food and gone dancing, but it had been a wonderful night and they were all a little sad to see it end.

In the back of the limo, Sam and Jack sat in a comfortable silence. Even though there was now an abundance of space to sit, they still remained next to each other, with only a few inches in between them. Soft music from a classic rock station filtered in the through the speakers, and Sam let out a happy sigh.

She kept trying to sneak glances at Jack. He had taken off his jacket, loosened his tie, and rolled up his sleeves. It was a good look for him, and Sam wondered just how was able to make everything look so good. Jack O'Neill was just one of those people, Sam supposed. As much as that annoyed her, she found it to be incredibly attractive.

Sam had no idea that every time she looked away, Jack would sneak a peek of his own at her. The last time he did it, she tried to get another look, and let out a soft gasp of surprise when her eyes collided with his own. He gave her a sheepish smile and she returned it, and they both looked away once again.

The limo pulled up outside of Sam's house, and she was surprised when Jack climbed out first and offered her a hand. She took it, and Jack ducked his head back in to say something to the limo driver before he began to walk with her towards her front door.

"You don't have to walk me to my door," Sam told him. It made her feel irrationally giddy, and she sternly tried to remind herself that she was a thirty year old woman, and she didn't need to be acting like Jack was the football quarterback that was walking her to her door after their first date. The butterflies in her stomach refused to listen, however.

Jack just smiled at her and tucked his hands into his pockets once they reached her door. He waited for her to unlock it, and Sam paused before she pushed it open entirely. She took one more look at him, letting herself indulge in the way his white dress shirt stretched across his broad chest, at the little peek of skin she could see from where he had unbuttoned the top of his shirt.

Jack saw the way she was very obviously checking him out, and his grin broadened. He waited until her eyes made their way back up to his, and then he reached out to catch her hand in his. Sam's eyes widened, and she practically held her breath as Jack leaned towards her.

"Good night, Sam," he murmured. Then, before he could talk himself out of it, he pressed a kiss to her cheek. And if he caught the corner of her mouth, well… no one would know if he had done it on purpose or not.

* * *

 **I'm aware that this whole chapter was super clichéd, but I just couldn't help myself. Thanks for reading, and I would love to hear what you thought! Next chapter will feature a little more action and a mission or two. :)**


	6. the boundaries of our fears

**As always, thank you for your wonderful reviews. :)**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own anything. The chapter title comes from the song "Crossfire" by Brandon Flowers.**

* * *

 **eighteen.**

"Alright, come on, Jan. Spill."

"There's nothing to spill, Sam!"

Sam rolled her eyes at her best friend. "Oh please, Janet. You and Daniel were all over each other at the benefit, and you went home together. Do you seriously mean that there's nothing you want to tell me?"

To Sam's surprise, Janet flushed bright red. Sam had known Janet for years, and she knew that her friend didn't embarrass easily. In fact, Janet was usually very blunt, unafraid to say what she was feeling, no matter what her audience was. To see her react in such a way was shocking, to say the least.

"Jan…"

"Sam, I really like him," Janet admitted. "I don't even know what it is, but I just… I like him."

Sam blinked at Janet, and then she pressed her hands to her chest. "Aw, Janet!" Sam's voice was nearly at a squeal, but she couldn't bring herself to care. She was way too happy and excited for her friend to be embarrassed by her girly reaction. "You love him!"

"What? I do not!"

"Yes, you do!" Sam nodded her head emphatically and took great satisfaction in the way that Janet's face was so red, it looked like she was about to explode. "You _love_ him!" It wasn't often that Sam got to tease Janet, and she was going to take full advantage of it.

"Sam!" Janet hissed. She cast a glance at the door of her office, as if anyone could walk through it at any moment. While it was true that the members of SG-1 were frequent visitors to the infirmary and were often in and out of it while they weren't injured, Sam knew that they certainly weren't going to go out of their way to visit Janet's office if they could avoid it.

"What?" Sam shrugged her shoulders and leaned back in her chair opposite Janet's desk, pleased to have the upper hand for once. "I'm right, and you know it."

Janet glared at her so-called best friend. "I have big needles, you know."

"So what?" Sam wasn't afraid of the big needles. She was probably the only person in the entirety of the SGC that wasn't afraid of those needles. Janet had threatened her with them for years, and now the mention of those needles really only served to make Sam laugh.

"I'll move up your next physical," Janet said. Clearly, she was desperate for a change in topic. "And I'll make you get every test done in the book."

That didn't scare Sam, either, and she shrugged her shoulders carelessly. "Being stuck in the infirmary for that length of time will allow me to complete some reports without getting interrupted," Sam explained. No one would dare bother her while she was in the infirmary, and Sam already had lots of practices working on her laptop while nurses drew blood and completed any number of tests.

Suddenly, the perfect thing to hold over Sam's had occurred to Janet, and her eyes lit up as she leaned forward. Sam knew that look—and _that_ look was the one that frightened her more than anything else. The last time Sam had seen that look, she had ended up as a guinea pig for three nursing students to practice their IV insertion technique.

"I'll tell Colonel O'Neill that you have a crush on him," Janet whispered loudly.

Just as Janet had earlier, Sam's eyes darted quickly towards the door to Janet's office to make sure that no one was near it. It wasn't like Sam could see through the solid cement walls and wood door, but it made her feel better to check anyway.

"You wouldn't dare," Sam hissed. As soon as the words left her mouth, she knew that she had just made a grave mistake. Janet's eyes nearly doubled in size, and Sam slapped her hands over her mouth.

Instead of a denial, what was essentially a confirmation had escaped instead. Sam couldn't believe that the fact that she had feelings for Jack O'Neill had been verbally stated, and was now just hanging in the air.

"Oh my god," Janet finally said. She was still whispering, which Sam appreciated. "I knew, of course, but to hear you actually admit it—"

"I didn't admit anything!" Sam whisper-shouted, hoping that the technicality would save her.

Janet was smirking now, and she waved her hand. "Maybe not in so many words." She looked positively gleeful. "Wow, I can't believe you have a thing for the Colonel."

Sam stared at Janet as her mouth opened and closed repeatedly. Finally, she crossed her arms over her chest and grumbled, "Well, could you at least stop saying out loud?"

Janet's only response was to laugh loudly as she tilted back in her chair.

* * *

"Heeeeeey Sam?"

Sam paused, screwdriver in hand, as Daniel poked his head around the entrance to her lab. He saw that she wasn't doing anything that required him to wear protective goggles or stand at least one hundred feet back, so he entered the lab.

Even as she gave a greeting to Daniel, Sam couldn't help but keep her eyes on the open space of her door, waiting to see if anyone else would appear behind Daniel. The members of SG-1 generally traveled in pairs, if not all together. Daniel only showed up by himself when they wanted to get some work done. In fact, the only other person who visited her in the lab by himself was Jack, and he didn't stay there for any prolonged amount of time (unless he was trying to annoy her, of course). Jack would appear to kick Sam out of her lab, or drag her out for a meal break.

(No matter how much she protested, Sam could at least admit to herself that she secretly liked it when Jack did that.)

Daniel caught Sam peering behind him. "It's just me," he said with a chuckle. "I know I'm not the member of SG-1 that you necessarily want to see, but I come bearing a gift."

Eyeing him, Sam set aside the screwdriver. Daniel had that puppy dog look on his face, his blue eyes wide and innocent. He grinned at her as he stepped up to her table and set a mission file on her worktable, nudging it across with his fingers. Ignoring the fact that the sight of Daniel's puppy dog eyes normally meant she was about to get roped into something, Sam's interest was piqued. She pulled the file folder towards her and flipped it open.

"This is your report for your upcoming mission to Medrona," Sam said as she flipped through the papers. One in particular caught her eye, just as Daniel had known it would—the write up on the device they had found on the planet, the Touchstone. Sam's eyes scanned the words quickly, and then she looked up at Daniel, her eyes bright with the prospect of a new discovery. "Does it really determine the meteorological conditions on the entire planet?"

"It seems to," Daniel confirmed. "We're going to head back to take another look at it, and we figured you'd want to join us."

"Oh hell yes I would!" Sam exclaimed. It wasn't her usual response to being asked to provide scientific support on a mission, but Sam couldn't help herself. This was the first time anyone had even mentioned her going off-world since the fiasco on Avnil three months earlier, and Sam was eager to say yes before anyone could try to find a reason to keep her on Earth.

She was aware that they were just trying to keep her safe, and while she appreciated the sentiment, Sam couldn't help but admit that she was eager to go off-world again. It had been exhilarating, and the thought of going on a mission purely for the scientific discovery was more than a little intriguing. So what if she had been captured the last time she had gone through the Stargate? Sam was tough, and she knew she could handle it. Besides, enough things happened at the SGC that she was in as much danger there as she was off-world. Sam supposed that Daniel knew that, hence the reason he had invited her on their mission.

General Hammond and Jack, on the other hand, were a different story. Ever since Sam's father had stated that he knew exactly what went on at the SGC and had read the mission report on what had transpired on Avnil, they had been ridiculously reluctant to even discuss the possibility of Sam going through the Stargate again. Sam had wisely decided to let that go, and now, standing with Daniel holding the mission file, she was glad that she had. It was clear that her patience had paid off.

"Great!" Daniel exclaimed. Now his eyes were shining, and he was just as excited as Sam was. "Our pre-mission briefing is in an hour. Bring some coffee and some notes on the Touchstone."

Sam's eyes narrowed, and she suddenly understood why Daniel wanted her to compile some notes on the device. "You haven't told Jack about your little plan to invite me along, have you?"

Daniel grinned again, looking almost perfectly innocent—save for the mischievous twinkle in his eye. "I cleared it with General Hammond," Daniel said, instead of actually answering her question. "So…"

Sam gathered up her laptop and the file and followed Daniel out of her lab. She was going to need whatever information he had gathered on the Touchstone for her own report, so they would go to his lab until the pre-mission briefing. Daniel looked entirely too pleased with himself as they walked, and Sam couldn't help the next words that left her mouth.

"Does that whole thing with the puppy dog eyes work on the rest of your team?" Sam asked.

Daniel actually pouted at that. "No. It hasn't since the first two missions."

Sam tried to—unsuccessfully— hide her snicker behind her hand. "Don't worry, Daniel. I'm sure it'll work on Janet for quite a while."

She was rewarded when Daniel spluttered at that. Now it was Sam's turn to grin innocently, glad that she had got the final word.

* * *

Sam and Daniel had been the first to arrive for the pre-mission briefing. Jack had been the last.

He strolled through the door, as he always did, with his hands tucked into his pockets. He dropped into the seat next to General Hammond—his customary spot—and did a comedic double take when he realized that Sam was sitting in the chair on the other side of him.

Sam would have laughed (Kawalsky actually did) if she hadn't been so hesitant about what Jack's reaction to her joining on the mission to Medrona. The logical part of Sam's brain was reminding her that she had no reason to be nervous, because of course Jack would understand the advantage of having Sam around to figure out how the Touchstone worked. He would accept it, they would go on the mission, and everything would be fine.

The other, more romantic part of Sam's brain reminded her of the way his eyes had darkened when he realized she still had bruises weeks after they had returned from Avnil. Of course, she hadn't forgotten that near-kiss on her front porch after the benefit, either. Sam knew that Jack would do his absolute best to make sure that no harm would come to her, but she also knew that he would do the exact same for any member of his team.

"Dr. Carter," Jack greeted. His jaw was tense, and Sam refused to be distracted by the granite lines. Truly, it was unfair how attractive he was.

Had they not been sitting in a briefing, Sam would have laughed at Jack's tense formality. "Colonel O'Neill," she returned evenly.

Daniel cleared his throat then, drawing all the attention towards him. "I invited Sam to join us on our return mission t Medrona, Jack," Daniel informed.

"Excellent," Kawalsky said immediately. He might have liked to play dumb, but he had a degree in engineering and was typically the member that checked out any technology SG-1 found. He was the one who deemed whether or not it was worth bringing back to the SGC for further study, and he was happy to have someone who was far more knowledgeable on the subject to accompany him.

Sam was grateful that none of the men on SG-1 had any issues with her expertise. They listened to her and accepted what she said, taking her ideas and opinions into account. She had been at the SGC for nearly a year, after all, and she had been working on the Stargate from Area 51 for three years before that. At that point, Sam had been the unofficial expert on the Stargate. Since being reassigned to the SGC, people were actually recognizing her as the expert, and Sam couldn't help but feel euphoric every time someone mentioned it.

Jack wasn't stupid either, no matter how much he played at it. "For the Touchstone," he said. His voice was casual, even, but when Sam caught his eyes, there was a brief flash of something intense before his expression smoothed over.

"Sam's expertise would be invaluable," Daniel stated. He did that wide-eyed, innocent puppy dog look thing, and Jack rolled his eyes as soon as he recognized it. Sam's eyebrows shot up as she observed the exchange, and she saw that Jack knew exactly what Daniel was doing; just as much as Daniel knew that Jack knew.

Sam's mind spun, and while she knew she was brilliant, she was willing to accept that there was some things—like the interactions between Jack and Daniel—that she would never truly understand. Their friendship was unlikely and interesting, to say the last, but it was clear that they trusted one another and took their opinions into consideration, even when they didn't really want to. It was part of what made SG-1 such an amazing team.

"Come on, Jack," Kawalsky finally said. "You know it would help to have Sam with us on this mission. We need an expert to take a look at the Touchstone. I mean, I'm good, but I'm not _Sam_ good." He grinned at Sam, and she narrowed her eyes at him.

"You're just trying to butter me up," she accused Kawalsky.

He winked at her obviously. "Is it working?"

General Hammond tried to hide his chuckle behind his hand. He never knew what he was going to get when he had SG-1 in for a pre or post mission briefing, but it was always sure to be a trip. Throwing Sam into the mix added an interesting dynamic, and he had to admit that it was nice to find a scientist that they worked well with.

Even though he had been reluctant to allow Sam off-world after the disaster on Avnil, he did feel better knowing that it was SG-1 she was going with. He wasn't stupid; he could see that Jack wouldn't allow a single hair on her head to be harmed, and General Hammond trusted that.

Jack stared at Sam then, his eyes unreadable but intense. She found herself returning his steady gaze, unable to look away. He captivated her, and she was helpless under that amber-eyed gaze. The effect that Jack O'Neill seemed to have on her was both exhilarating and terrifying.

"Do you remember the rules from last time, or are we going to have to go over them again?" Jack asked dryly.

Sam scoffed and rolled her eyes in an effort to hide her reaction to the way that Jack's eyes remained on hers. "Don't patronize me, Colonel O'Neill," she snapped.

Okay, so she had disobeyed direct orders the last time she had gone off-world with SG-1. But those had been extenuating circumstances, and she never would have done it if she hadn't known Hanson personally. The whole mission had been shot to hell from the start, and they all knew it. This one would be different.

Jack held his hands up, and that infuriatingly attractive smirk was back on his face. "I'm just saying. I'm going to have to plan properly if you're going to run off and get captured again."

Sam's mouth dropped open and she went to retort—something about how she resented the fact that Jack assumed she would be the one to get captured, or that she was bound to run off no matter what he said—but Kawalsky saved her. What he said was so appropriate, it was difficult not to dissolve into laughter.

"Daniel is normally our resident damsel in distress," Kawalsky said seriously. "It's a good thing you're coming with us, Sam, because he needs a break."

Sam was unable to keep her giggles quiet, even as Daniel yelped in protest and then exclaimed, "Hey! I resent that!"

* * *

 **nineteen.**

Sam felt way more excited getting ready to go through the Stargate this time around.

It was understandable, of course, since this time she wouldn't be going after her ex-fiancé. This time around, they would be going for actual scientific discovery, and it was difficult not to be giddy with excitement.

Janet had parked herself in the locker room as Sam geared up for the mission, so she was the one who got to listen to Sam's babbling about how the Medrona was probably terraformed by another alien race, but they had left the Touchstone behind and had taught the Medronans how to use it, and how it was truly amazing that they could call the rain or the sun forth depending on what they needed.

Janet waved her hand. "That's all well and good, and everything, but I'm just saying that you better not get injured this time around, Sam."

Sam paused in shouldering her vest on and glared at her best friend. "I didn't get injured last time, Janet."

"Just captured," Janet reminded her. "And bruises count as injuries, by the way. Just… keep yourself out of trouble this time around, Sam. Okay?"

Sam sighed heavily, but she nodded her head and leaned over the hug Janet tightly. "I'll be fine," Sam assured her, even though she had no business promising her own safety. Janet knew as much, so she let Sam get away with it, because it was nice to have the reassurance.

Janet returned the hug, wrapping her arms around Sam tightly. "You better be," she said into Sam's shoulder. "Because I threatened to cut Daniel off from sex if you got even the slightest bit hurt."

That made Sam laugh, and she hugged Janet again before releasing her. Together, they headed out of the locker room and down to the Gate Room. Sam was positive that this mission would go better than the last one she had been on. Statistically speaking, it had to be better, didn't it? She couldn't have two crappy off-world experiences in a row.

The two women walked into the Gate Room together, and Jack groaned as soon as he saw Janet. "Aw, come on, Doc!" he exclaimed. "You know we'll take good care of her!"

"I just wanted to see you guys off," Janet said dismissively. Still, that didn't stop her from grabbing Daniel's arm as Siler dialed up the Gate. "Remember what I said," she hissed to her boyfriend.

Daniel swallowed hard and nodded his head, looking just a little more paler than he had a moment go. "Yes, ma'am," he murmured, while Kawalsky snickered behind him.

"Are you sure that you're going to be able to find out what makes the Touchstone tick?" General Hammond asked, purposefully ignoring the rest of SG-1 and their antics. Instead of waiting in the Control Room, he had decided to come down to the Stargate to see his flagship team off.

Jack just grinned and nodded his head confidently. "That's why we're going back and bringing Carter, sir. She'll be able to look at it with some of her specialized doohickeys."

General Hammond wasn't quite able to hide his grin as his eyebrows shot up. Sam covered her mouth but was unable to smother her giggles. Jack shot her a look, but her smile only widened.

"Doohickeys?" General Hammond repeated. He hadn't missed the exchange between the colonel and the doctor, and it only made him want to smile more. He was able to tamp down on that impulse, however, which was a good thing in regards to the SGC rumor mill.

"I believe that's the technical term, sir," Jack said without missing a beat.

Sam smiled at Jack and then forced her eyes back to General Hammond, just in case anyone saw her grinning at the CO of SG-1 dopily. "My instruments will measure the Touchstone's emissions and hopefully give us a better idea of how it works."

The Stargate activated then, and just as before, Sam stared at the event horizon with wide eyes. It seemed no matter how often she saw it, she would be amazed. She vaguely heard General Hammond wish them luck, and she followed Daniel, Teal'c, and Kawalsky up the ramp. Sam was aware of the fact that Jack hung back beside her as they walked, and paused next to her when the rest of his teammates walked through.

There was something wondrous in the way that Sam looked and felt about the Stargate, Jack knew. It had been a long time since he had seen such innocent fascination, and he was glad that Sam still felt even after her experience on Avnil. It was a sweet, Jack had decided, even though he refused to analyze why he was suddenly using the word "sweet" to describe Samantha Carter.

"You ready?" Jack finally said, instead of any of the other things that were floating around in his mind.

She grinned at him, her blue eyes sparkling. "Of course."

Once again, they stepped through together.

* * *

By the time they caught up to the rest of SG-1, Daniel was already bowing to the two people that had gone to the Stargate to greet them. The sky was dark above the, and thunder rumbled in the distance. "This is Princess La Moor and Roham," Daniel introduced as Jack and Sam joined the rest of team. "This is Dr. Samantha Carter. She'll be studying the Touchstone with us."

"The Touchstone," Roham grunted. He looked decidedly unhappy, which was the exact opposite of the way he had looked when SG-1 had visited the first time. "We demand that you return it immediately."

Daniel shared a look with Kawalsky before he cleared his throat. "What? It's, ah… it's missing?"

"Do not play games," Roham snapped. "You must return it at once."

Jack sighed and decided that it was time to step in. He refused to look at Sam, because it appeared that this mission was going to turn out as horrible as the last one she had been on, just in a different way. He had caught the way her brow had furrowed when Roham had mentioned that the Touchstone had gone missing, but he didn't want to see what would surely be disappointment in her eyes when they might be arrested for a crime they didn't commit.

"No games," Jack stated calmly. "We didn't take it."

Roham shook his head sadly. "It's gone. Come see for yourselves."

Wordlessly, SG-1 and Sam followed Roham and Princess La Moor to the temple. Sam remembered the pictures in Daniel's file—the Touchstone had been placed in the hands of a statue, and it was clear now that it was missing. Jack and Sam stepped forward, inspecting the place where the Touchstone had been with the same intensity.

"Well, I guess that explains the storm clouds coming in," Sam murmured to Jack. She hadn't needed her instruments to know that this storm would be stronger than anything the people on Medrona had faced before.

Roham was practically beside himself with emotion now that they were inside the Temple, at the scene of the crime. "Without the Touchstone, we shall soon be overtaken by the elements. It's only a matter of time before we begin to die because of your theft."

Daniel and Sam, the two people with SG-1 that were more attuned to people's emotions, shifted uncomfortably. Sam knew that SG-1 had encountered a lot since they had started going off-world, but it wasn't often that they were accused of stealing technology. It was disconcerting, to say the least, and it was clear that it agitated SG-1 as a whole. They were all honorable men, and they were clearly distressed at being accused of such a crime.

"If this device was so important, why wasn't it guarded?" Jack asked casually. He hadn't missed the people stationed outside the temple that had pointed their bows and arrows at them as they had walked in, after all. The people of Medrona obviously had the manpower, so why wasn't their most important artifact under watch?

"It was guarded," Roham told them, his voice shaky. "We let our guard down because of your people."

"We trusted you," Princess La Moor added, her face devastated.

It had been five weeks since SG-1 had first visited Medrona. Another SG team had Gated to the planet in the interim, just to check up on the people and make sure that they were still open to trade. Everything had been fine, and the Touchstone had still been present with the people of Medrona more than willing to share their technology. For their attitude to change so suddenly didn't make any sense.

For the first time since they had stepped on the planet, Kawalsky spoke up. "We didn't take it," he said hotly. SG-1 respected other people, and other planets, completely. They certainly wouldn't do something like this, and neither would any of the people in the SGC. Kawalsky was more than willing to vouch for every person in the SGC, and he knew that the rest of his team would, as well.

"Had we taken the artifact, there would be no need to return to this place," Teal'c pointed out logically. He made an excellent point, of course, not that Roham or Princess La Moor seemed to recognize that.

"There were witnesses," Princess La Moor insisted.

Sam could see just how agitated Jack was getting, and how hard he was trying to conceal it. He resented the fact that he and his team were being accused of a crime that they didn't commit, but it was clear that a crime had, in fact, taken place. The Touchstone was gone, and no one on Medrona seemed to know where it had disappeared to.

"What did these witnesses see?" Jack's voice was carefully even, but it was clear that his anger was simmering just under the surface. Sam could see it in the tense set of his shoulders, in the way his jaw was set—and especially in the way his hand rested so casually over his P-90, his finger relaxed, but ready, against the trigger.

Princess La Moor shared an aggrieved look with her uncle. "A group of people taking the Touchstone in the dead of night. They were dressed much as you are and carried weapons like yours."

Something wasn't right. The SGC thoroughly vetted the people that they brought on, and while there was the occasional crazy outlier (like Hanson), they typically didn't have people that wanted to steal technology that kept other planets safe. The people at the SGC wanted to save the world—the whole galaxy, really—and were willing to sacrifice a hell of a lot for the bigger picture. Good people like that wouldn't steal technology from another planet.

"Did they see where these people went?" Jack asked after a moment. His thoughts were along the same lines as Sam—as the rest of his team's, as well. They were wearing matching looks on their faces; ones of half anger, half confusion.

"They left by your Stargate," Roham told them. "And none of our people know how to use the portal." His face lost the emotion it had earlier, and grew grim and serious. "Guards… disarm the wrongdoers."

"Hold it!" Jack snapped. He raised his P-90 at the same time Kawalsky did. Jack shifted back slightly, his body covering Sam's as he pointed his weapon at the guards that were approaching them. Teal'c leveled his staff weapon at them as well, while Daniel had a hand hovering over the Beretta in his holster. He didn't want to pull his gun, but he was willing to if it came down to that.

"We came here in peace," Jack continued. "And we expect to go in one… piece."

Despite the seriousness of the situation, and despite the fact that Sam was unarmed (even though she really wished that they would have at least given her a zat), she couldn't help the smile that came to her lips. She could see Daniel and Kawalsky struggling to hide their own smiles, and Teal'c had arched an eyebrow—a clear sign of his own amusement. Jack had a knack for lessening the tension in any situation, which was working in their favor, at the moment.

"Then explain yourself, but be warned," Roham said after considered the team. "If your answers are not satisfactory, then we have no choice but to seek retribution."

The members of SG-1 and Sam shared a look. They knew exactly what was happening, and they also knew that they were about to end up in some deep shit if they couldn't find a way to talk themselves out this. Suddenly, Sam knew what needed to be said, even the rest of SG-1 wasn't willing to vocalize it.

"Look, the people who took the Touchstone don't care about what happens to us," Sam blurted before she could stop herself. It was true, though if her suspicions were correct. "So seeking retribution on us won't do anything to help you."

To Sam's surprise, Daniel and Jack nodded their heads emphatically while Teal'c and Kawalsky took up defensive positions on either side of them. Sam was sandwiched, with Jack and Daniel on one side, and Teal'c and Kawalsky on the other. Despite the precarious nature of their situation, Sam felt incredibly safe.

"It's true," Jack added. "Caring about us would be low on the list of priorities for the people who took the Touchstone." From the look in his eyes, Sam could see that Jack had the same suspicions that she did.

"We can help you," Daniel said. There was that puppy dog look again, but this one was compelling and sincere. Watching Roham and Princess La Moor, Sam could see easily see why SG-1 was such a good team. They all played their parts, and each member was exceptionally good at theirs. "Let us go back through the Stargate and find them."

"We have the technology to find them," Sam added. Janet might have accused her of using her blue eyes to get what she needed, and even though Sam had refused to admit to it at the time, she knew that she subconsciously did it anyway. Now, she was busting out the wide blue eyes, blinking innocently at Roham and Princess La Moor. It seemed to work, because they both softened towards her.

Still, Roham needed to ask the necessary questions. He wanted to know that they wouldn't use the Stargate to escape, and Jack assured him that they were just as interested as catching who did this as the people of Medrona were. He pleaded for help, just as SG-1 had pleaded for their trust. In the end, each was given… SG-1 was allowed off the planet to find who stole the Touchstone, and the people of Medrona trusted them to do so.

Not half an hour after they stepped through the Stargate, SG-1 and Sam turned around and headed back to Earth.

* * *

General Hammond was concerned by the early return, but his unease quickly morphed into anger once he discovered the reason for SG-1's return. After a quick discussion in his office (where they were all still wearing this mission gear), General Hammond eventually ordered Sam to check the Gate logs anyway, just to make sure that no one was sneaking through without his authorization.

Sam had grown up with George Hammond being a constant present in her life. For as long as she could remember, he had been at birthday parties and graduations and any family event, really. When he said that nothing happened near the Stargate without him knowing about it, Sam believed him. She felt incredibly humbled when he trusted her enough to check the logs and data anyway, and Sam wanted to do everything in her power to prove that no one at the SGC was capable of such an atrocity.

It had been nearly twenty hours since their return, and Sam was seated at a computer in the Control Room. Daniel was at another monitor next to her, with Kawalsky on the other side of him. They worked silently and efficiently, with plenty of coffee between them, and Sam was grateful. They let her do her own thing while they followed whatever directives she gave them without question.

Jack and Teal'c appeared soon after the twenty hour mark, with extra coffee and sandwiches for each of them. "Find anything yet?" Jack asked. He took a seat on the free side of Sam as Teal'c passed out the food and coffee to Daniel and Kawalsky. Jack was holding an extra coffee cup and a wrapped sandwich, and Sam eyed it even as she continued to type.

"Is that for me?" she asked when Jack didn't move.

Jack grinned at her. "I don't know. Are you the astrophysicist that likes cinnamon creamer in her coffee?"

Sam pretended to sniff and turned her attention back to her computer screen. "It's not nice to tease, you know."

"Aw, come on, Carter." Jack pushed the coffee towards her, and then held an unwrapped sandwich under her nose. "It's tuna fish. I hear that's your favorite."

Somehow, Sam wasn't surprised that Jack knew that—and she was more than a little pleased, as well. He was holding the coffee cup and the sandwich enticingly towards her, and she snatched it out of her hands and took a long sip of the perfectly prepared coffee as she unwrapped the sandwich with one hand. She groaned as she bit into the multigrain bread. The commissary might have sucked at their daily special, but they could make a damn good sandwich.

"We're thinking that we might have seen some affects of the Touchstone," Daniel said while Sam shoved her sandwich into her mouth. "Have you been watching the Weather Channel?"

"Daniel," Jack stated in answer to that particular question. Sam laughed around the bite she had taken and swallowed some more coffee to wash it down, and was rewarded with the grin that Jack sent her in response.

Daniel muttered under his breath, but Kawalsky hit a few keys on his keyboard and pulled up a news report. It talked all about the abnormal weather patterns across the country, making it easy to see that something was very suddenly affecting the weather. It didn't take a rocket scientist to draw the conclusions that Sam, Daniel, and Kawalsky had already come to.

"You think the Touchstone is causing such phenomena," Teal'c said after the weather report ended.

"Yes," Sam said. She hit a few more keys on her own keyboard and frowned at what the screen presented for her. She had been combing through the Gate logs and had triple checked them, but had come up with the same results every time. There had been no unauthorized trips through the Stargate—through the SGC, anyway. Sam had found nothing out of the ordinary in the Gate logs, and it was more than just a little bit frustrating.

"You don't think it's a bit of a jump that the Touchstone is on Earth?" Jack questioned. Even though is voice as skeptical, it was obvious that he was asking because he really wanted to know.

"Well not really, if you think about it." Daniel began. He got that glint in his eye, that slightly insane one that signaled a discovery. "Whoever left that device on Medrona probably keyed it to the atmospheric conditions of that planet. Somebody steals it and brings it back to Earth, starts fiddling around with it with no idea what they're doing, and… who knows?"

"It could be on Earth," Sam continued. She stared at her computer screen and then looked towards Daniel's screen. He had been tracking the weather patterns in the United States, and the data was too much to ignore. "I'm thinking it is, actually. There was a huge transitory glitch three days ago when SG-2 returned from a routine mission roughly the same hour the Touchstone was taken."

Teal'c eyebrow arched up, as it always did when he was trying to figure something out. "But SG-2's point of origin was thousands of light years away from Medrona."

"It was," Sam confirmed. She had triple-checked those coordinates, after all. "The energy spike is off the charts, though. You remember what happened the last time the Gate's power supply was overloaded?"

The last time that happened, Jack and Kawalsky had ended up in Antarctica, where no one had known there was a second Stargate. They had spent days searching other planets for them—a search that Sam had been a part of from Area 51—before Daniel had realized that his two team members were trying to dial Earth from the planet itself. When all was said and done, they had found Jack and Kawalsky, and had gotten another Stargate to boot.

Jack grumbled under his breath at the mention of that particularly unpleasant mission, while Daniel's brow furrowed. "Are you saying that SG-2 used the Stargate and a power overload to jump to Medrona's Stargate to steal the Touchstone?"

"Not SG-2," Sam corrected. Her eyes were bright and her fingers were flying over the keyboard as she pulled up the times and the energy signatures of the Stargate that she was talking about. "Their mission went as planned, but these readings suggest that someone might have been using the second Stargate the split second after SG-2 used ours to try and hide the energy spike in ours."

There was a long beat of silence as everyone absorbed that information. Then Jack, of course, said the perfect thing to break the tension: "Kind of like shooting off a gun when a train goes by." When the rest of team looked at him questioningly, Jack clarified, "To hide the sound."

Sam had gotten what he was referring to, and had grabbed onto Jack's arm as she nodded her head enthusiastically. "Yes, exactly, Jack!" she exclaimed. Her fingers tightened on Jack's arm as she said, "Now, let's see. SG-2's log should have the same electronic signature that was present the last time the wormhole jumped it tracks. Bear with me."

Jack glanced down at where Sam's hand was gripping her hand. She hadn't seemed to realize that she was still holding on to him, as she efficiently operated the computer with one hand. "Bearing," Jack said in amusement.

There was no match of the energy signatures for the first search, nor was there one for the backup log. Sam cursed under her breath and released Jack's arm, using both hands to look up the third-tier backup. She mumbled under her breath about someone erasing the data and how it would be easy to look over the third backup (a protocol that she had implemented), and when a match popped up, she couldn't help but fist-pump in victory.

"The second Stargate is being used," Sam confirmed. "The energy signature is an exact match."

Daniel pushed away from the computer he had been looking at and dragged his hands over his face. Over twenty hours staring at a computer screen was taking its toll, and he was ready for a nap, at the very least—not that he would admit it to anyone, since Janet was sure to show up with her needles if she even heard the barest mention of the word tired. "I thought that Stargate was officially decommissioned?"

"It was," Jack said. He had a thoughtful look on his face. He was more than familiar with the military and the secret operations that went on, and it was obvious that he had some ideas. "Officially, anyway."

So Sam found herself in General Hammond's office with Jack as she presented her findings. General Hammond had been trying to get the President on the phone, but he had been unsuccessful. He hung up, frustrated with the fact that it appeared that someone was trying to orchestrate the President's schedule to keep General Hammond from speaking with him.

"I don't understand," General Hammond said as he hung up his red phone. "I had complete assurance that the second Stargate wouldn't used."

"I have a gut feeling as to who could be orchestrating this whole thing, sir," Jack said. Both General Hammond and Sam knew exactly who Jack was talking about: Senator Robert Kinsey and Maybourne. The two of them had been in cahoots for a long time, though there was no real evidence to back their suspicions up.

Sam knew the rumors and had heard about just how sneaky Kinsey was. And even though she had worked with Maybourne through the foothold situation, she also knew that she couldn't trust him as far as she could throw him. The dark look on Jack's face confirmed as much.

General Hammond sighed as he leaned back in his chair. "This may sound paranoid, but back when this program began, there was a philosophical skirmish about what the mandate should be. Some people wanted to make sure that any and all discoveries would be brought back, regardless of considerations like interplanetary diplomacy."

Those words had only confirmed Sam's misgivings. She believed—just like Jack and the rest of SG-1—that no one in the SGC would be capable of betraying them like that. Still, there were people outside of the SGC that knew about the program, and would do whatever they could to get their hands on advanced alien technology.

She hadn't asked Henry, but she had a feeling that he knew about the Stargate program. Sam was also positive that Henry had been the one who had informed her father about exactly what she had been doing, but that was a conversation for another time.

"Have you spoken to Senator Hayes about your suspicions?" Sam asked.

General Hammond eyed the young astrophysicist standing in front of his desk. "I have," he said evenly, confirmed Sam's conclusions—her stepfather knew exactly what she had been doing for the past year at the SGC. "He's been helping me look into who those people might be, although I don't know if we'll ever really know. They're not military, so we're positive that they're politicians pulling strings behind the scenes."

Jack was gritting his jaw, his anger clear. He had dedicated his life to the military, to this country, and he didn't want to believe that people working for their government were trying to cheat the system and were running another top-secret, illegal operation, separate from the SGC. Jack and the rest of his team had put their lives in danger—had died, even—for the planet countless times. The fact that some politician was threatening that and the SGC was unacceptable.

So Sam asked the obvious question: "So is this person—or people—responsible for stealing the Touchstone, then?" Sam was a scientist, and she needed evidence to back up conclusions. If that's what she needed to get these bastards, than that's what she would get.

General Hammond gave her a tired smile and reached for his red phone again. "I'm a long way from drawing that conclusion, but I'll be damned if I'll be blocked by some sycophant in the White House. I have other channels that I can pursue, people that I can call."

Sam knew that General Hammond was talking about her stepfather and her father, and she had a feeling that this whole thing was about to become a family affair. She sighed and tucked the loose hair that had escaped from her ponytail behind her ears, but she didn't say anything. If anyone could get shit done in Washington, it was her stepfather and her father. The two of them were a force to be reckoned with, and it was all the more amusing that people didn't understand their friendship.

Sam and Jack left General Hammond and his red phone and walked out of his office. Sam made to cross the briefing room, her body pointed to the spiral staircase that would lead down to the control room though. Before she could take even a single step forward, Jack caught her hand and pulled her to a stop.

There was a long beat of silence, and the two of the, just stood there. It was almost comical, really—the briefing room was open, and anyone in the Gate Room could look up through the observation window and see them. Just barely, really, but they were visible. Jack was an intensely private person, and Sam wasn't really too keen about sharing the details of her personal life, either. The SGC was one of the places that they were the most comfortable, though, and the unexpected intimacy of the moment was welcomed, rather than pushed away.

"Um, Jack," Sam finally said when she realized that he wasn't going to let go. "What are you doing?"

He just smiled at her and didn't release her hand. He leaned back against the briefing room table, looking as if he didn't have a care in the world. "Where are you going?" he asked casually.

"Back to the control room," Sam said slowly, giving Jack a "Remember what we were doing? It's really important," look. He had seen it from Daniel on more than one occasion, and now Jack was wondering if the two of them had gotten together to practice that look.

"You know… and I'm just making a suggestion, here… but you might want to think about taking a break. We came back from Medrona almost twenty-four hours ago. You're going to need some sleep," Jack said.

Sam sighed. She had gone without sleep for much longer before. True, she had never gone over twenty-four hours without sleep after a trip through the Stargate and Sam, as a relatively inexperienced Gate traveler felt the toll easily. Still, she didn't want to give in that easily. "Jack—"

"Carter." He gave her a look, then, and even though Sam wanted to argue, she understood the order behind it. They weren't friends in that moment, or two people that had an unspoken attraction between them—they were coworkers, and Jack was her superior. They had a mission, and they couldn't compromise it with something so trivial as lack of sleep.

Sam lifted her chin and leveled a look of her own at Jack. "Let me start a few searches and diagnostics that can run while I'm sleeping, then." When Jack arched an eyebrow, Sam continued, "I can use a scan to find the Touchstone that will measure the Doppler shift for gravitational and radiation emissions. I can tie some of our own instruments into a few satellites and triangulate—"

"Ack!" Jack held his free hand up. "I got it. Fine, go set up your searches or whatever. After that, though, you're going to your quarters and you're getting some shut eye."

Sam wanted to resent the way he was ordering her around, but she knew that he was right—not that she'd ever admit it to him. Besides, she could start her searches, and by the time she woke up, they would hopefully have a location. Then, they could travel to wherever the last known location of the Touchstone was without waiting for anyone to get proper rest.

Still, Sam couldn't help but ask, "Are you going to order Daniel to take a break, as well?" She was proud when she managed to keep her voice even and clinical. Ever since they had been getting reports of abnormal weather across the country, Daniel had practically been glued to the Weather Channel as he flipped through any research he had on the Touchstone.

Of course, instead of responding to her question like a normal person, Jack chuckled. "Of course I am," Jack finally told her. "He can't do his Space Monkey thing if he hasn't gotten a full night of sleep, no matter what he tells people. Actually, I think I'm going to recruit the doc to help me." A devious little smile formed on his face, and he rubbed his hands together. "I don't think I've ever been so happy about two people dating. This can really work in my favor."

Sam finally let out the laughter that she had been holding onto since Jack had started speaking. "Oh yeah? How so?"

Jack grinned at her, and Sam got the familiar feeling of her heart skipping a beat. "It's going to be extra easy to pit Daniel and the doc against each other now."

Doing what any proper best friend would do, Sam defended Janet. Jack was chuckling as they made their way down the spiral staircase and into the control room. His hand passed over the small of her back briefly as he pulled her chair out for her. By the time Sam had looked over her shoulder at Jack, he had already turned to tell Daniel that he had ten more minutes before he had to take a break.

Smiling to herself, Sam turned towards her screen and began to type.

* * *

Sam got a full four hours of sleep, which was better than nothing. When Jack opened his mouth to protest when she appeared in the briefing room—showered and changed and with a muffin from the commissary in hand—she reminded him primly that she _had_ slept, and Jack had never stipulated just how long her break was supposed to be.

Kawalsky was sniggering openly at the way Sam had creatively worked around Jack's order, while Daniel scribbled away at his notebook. If Sam didn't know any better, she could have sworn that Daniel was taking notes on how to find loopholes in Jack's orders. General Hammond entered before she could lean over and peek at his notebook, and the conversation got serious from there.

Per the searches and scans Sam had run, the last known location of the Touchstone was Nevada. The gazes of everyone in the briefing room grew dark as General Hammond told them that Maybourne had just been reassigned to Area 51. Another quick dial-in to Medrona revealed through the MALP that a horrible blizzard was ravaging the planet. The situation was more dire than ever before; they needed to find the Touchstone, and they needed to find it _now_.

"How will we know who to trust?" Kawalsky asked once they decided that they definitely needed to go to Nevada. They couldn't just descend on Area 51 and declare that they were leading an investigation.

General Hammond caught on quickly. "You know," he said thoughtfully as a slow smile formed on his face. "I have some sensitive documents that need to be delivered."

A matching smile formed on Jack's face. "You mean, hand-delivered? By a three-man team and one Jaffa?"

"Exactly."

Jack nudged Sam's shoulder then. "And one astrophysicist who previously worked at Area 51 and can give us all the inside information on the place?"

A grin spread across Sam's lips, and there was a sparkle in her blue eyes that caught Jack's attention immediately. General Hammond nodded his head in approval, wordlessly giving SG-1 and Sam a go on their mission.

* * *

 **twenty.**

They were half an hour from touching down in Nevada, and they closer they got, the more the tension thickened in the air. It wasn't often that they had missions on Earth, but whenever they did, there was an extra weight attached to it, something that made a little bit more serious. The severity of the situation was at the forefront of all their minds; the fate of an entire planet now rested in their hands, and they had to find the traitors responsible for this mess in the first place, to boot.

It hadn't escaped Sam's mind that this would be the first time she would be returning to Area 51 since she had left a year ago. Much had changed for her, and it was all good, really, but she knew that the gossip mill spread far and wide. She had a feeling that everyone knew at least some part of what went down with Hanson—not to mention some of the other escapades she had engaged in since being transferred to the SGC.

Naturally, Daniel seemed to know what she was thinking. He sat down next to her, his gaze knowing, his blue eyes shining with concern and compassion behind his glasses. "Are you going to be okay?" he asked.

Despite the thoughts floating around in Sam's mind, she tried to play it off. "Of course I am," she said quickly—a little too quickly. Daniel picked up on it immediately, and Sam knew what was coming before he even opened his mouth.

"Come on, Sam," Daniel chided gently. "You're going back to Area 51 a year after you left, and we're going to be interrogating basically everyone you worked with."

"Yeah, well…" Sam shrugged her shoulders, unafraid to state the obvious. "If they sent someone like Maybourne to oversee things at Area 51, they deserve it."

Daniel winced at the vehemence in Sam's voice. Everyone knew that Maybourne was basically in Kinsey's pocket, but he was also a grown man who could make his own decisions. While it was true that Maybourne had worked with Sam during the foothold situation months ago, it was clear that whatever grudging respect she had held for him disappeared with the stolen Touchstone.

"I worked with a lot of these people for a long time, Daniel," Sam said quietly. "I don't want to believe that any of them could have been involved in something like this, but…"

"But the evidence points to that." Daniel nodded his head and squeezed Sam's shoulder comfortingly. As a scientist himself, he also tried to follow the evidence first. He liked to see the best in people, though, and while he wasn't naïve enough to believe that Maybourne wasn't involved in this, he did choose to believe that Sam's former colleagues hadn't gotten involved with the whole stealing alien technology from other planets thing. At least, he would believe it until proven otherwise.

"We're not going to know anything until we get there," Daniel continued. "And Area 51 is probably the same way you left it—full of scientists that want to find out how all the cool stuff we bring back works. They just happen to have a few NID personnel mixed in, ruining it for everyone else."

Finally, Sam smiled, because Daniel was right. Like any working environment, there were a few people that she hadn't gotten along with. The majority of her colleagues at Area 51 had been great, though, and Sam had to focus on that.

"You know," she began. "You four are going to create quite a commotion when we get there."

Daniel's brow furrowed. "We are? Why?"

It was truly adorable how these four men had no idea just how important they were to Earth, how heroic they were, and Sam relished being the one to point it out to them. She could imagine all four of them balking at being called adorable, because they were _men_ and men were not _adorable_ , but it was true. It was cute how oblivious they were to their celebrity status—at least in the world of top-secret government operations. SG-1 was legendary, and as Sam had the unique perspective as an outsider and as someone who worked with them, she could definitively say that SG-1 more than deserved their legendary status.

Sam laughed and patted Daniel's cheek. "Well, Daniel, you guys have saved the world a few times. It's kind of a big deal, you know."

Daniel's eyes went wide, as if he was just realizing that fact for the first time. "Don't tell Kawalsky," he finally said. "It'll go to his head, and that's the last thing we need."

"What will go to my head?" Kawalsky demanded as he suddenly appeared. It was like he had been waiting for the exact moment his name had mentioned before making an appearance.

"Nothing," Daniel said quickly.

Kawalsky's eyes narrowed at his friend. "You're full of shit, Jackson." Then he looked towards Sam, all charming smiles and twinkling eyes. "Come on, Sam. You'll tell me, right?"

She heard Jack laugh from across the plane, and she caught sight of the raised eyebrow Teal'c was sending their way. It was clear that both of them had heard the conversation, while Kawalsky hadn't been paying the slightest bit attention until he heard his name. Somehow, in that moment, Sam knew that everything would be okay.

"You'll see when we get there, Kawalsky," Sam assured him.

* * *

Even though they had gone on the jet chartered for them by General Hammond (through Senator Hayes), Jack had insisted on renting a car and driving to Groom Lake himself. He wanted the element of surprise, plus he felt better knowing that he was in control of the transport of his own team. This was a sensitive mission, and he wasn't about to risk their safety on something as trivial as their transportation.

The seating arrangements were unspoken: Teal'c had climbed into the back row of the SUV by himself, where he would have all the room he needed to spread his large body out. Kawalsky took one of the seats in the middle row, because he rightfully assumed that Sam would take the passenger seat next to Jack. It was Daniel who chose to push Jack's buttons, pretending like he was going to get in the font with a map in his hands.

Jack put his hand on the door, stopping Daniel from opening it completely. "What the hell are you doing, Space Monkey?"

Daniel grinned at Jack, and he understood then that the archeologist knew _exactly_ what he was doing. He swore, Kawalsky and Daniel took turns trying to piss him off just for fun. "Someone has to help you navigate, Jack," Daniel explained patiently. He shook the map in Jack's face, pleased this prop was just an extra way to tease him.

Jack rolled his eyes and snatched the map away from Daniel. He tossed it into the middle row, at Kawalsky's laughing face. "We don't need a map, Daniel. I have a GPS. Plus, I can fly planes _and_ spaceships. You think I can't figure out my way to Area 51?"

"You've only ever flown a death glider, Jack," Daniel reminded.

"Yeah? So?"

"So, that's not a spaceship."

"I have flown a spaceship! Remember that cargo ship when we escaped from P7X-938?"

"Yeah, only after Teal'c got us off the ground."

"Daniel—"

"Boys!" Sam stepped between them, her arms crossed over her chest and her eyebrows up somewhere near her hairline. Her blue eyes were sparkling with amusement, though, and she was having trouble hiding the laughter that Kawalsky wasn't even trying to conceal. Even Teal'c had let a chuckle escape. "Don't you think we could save this discussion for another time? And while I appreciate your offer to navigate, Daniel, I'll take the front seat. I used to work at Area 51, remember? I know how to get there."

With that, she slipped past Jack and opened the passenger seat, climbing into the SUV. As she shut the door behind her, Jack grinned smugly at Daniel, who just returned it with a smug look of his own. Jack had gotten what he wanted, but Daniel had succeeded in pushing Jack's buttons.

Meanwhile, in the car, Sam rolled her eyes. While she was oblivious sometimes, she had picked up on what was going on almost immediately. When Jack got into the car and directed that smug look at her, Sam only arched an eyebrow at him and hoped that he wouldn't be able to see the flush in her cheeks. They were just too much, honestly.

* * *

SG-1's celebrity status was made apparent as soon as they arrived at the base. They all got out of the SUV and found that there was someone waiting for them—from the way he looked, they could tell that he had been waiting for some time, not that it seemed to bother him much. His eyes were bright with excitement as he saluted Jack.

"Welcome to Area 51, sir. I'm Major Clark Lane. It's an honor to meet you."

Jack cast a quick look at Sam, who was trying her hardest to hide her smile. "Uh… likewise. This is Major Kawalsky, Dr. Jackson, and Teal'c. I'm assuming that you already know Dr. Carter?"

"Yes, of course." Lane reached a hand out, and Sam shook it. "Welcome back to Area 51, Dr. Carter. You guys are a bit of legend around here. And everyone is real excited to see you, Dr. Carter. They've heard all about everything you've done since going to the SGC."

Sam blushed and ducked her head. While she knew that SG-1 would receive a warm welcome, she hadn't exactly expected that response for herself. "I'm just doing my job," she said with a shrug of her shoulders. Kawalsky had nudged her, clearly just as excited for her level of popularity at Area 51 as he was for his. Teal'c was smiling at her gently, and Daniel looking at her like a proud older brother.

Jack was grinning at her, and she barely resisted the urge to roll her eyes again. That smile of his did things to her, and it really was unfair. Thankfully, the moment passed quickly, and Jack grew serious once again. "We were actually hoping to meet with Colonel Maybourne."

"Of course, sir," Lane said. "He's been paged. In the meantime, would you like a tour? We're doing some pretty cool things here."

"Pretty cool things?" Jack repeated.

Sam grinned. "It's a technical term," she teased, unable to help herself.

She was rewarded with a genuine Jack O'Neill smile, and they followed Lane into the base. They went past the medical research lab, which was close to the botany lab. Lane explained what they were researching and then pointed out another room, where a group of scientists and engineers were working on the two death gliders that SG-1 had escaped in the first time they saved the world from Apophis.

"Holy shit, I didn't realize anyone had kept those things around," Kawalsky mumbled.

"Of course we did," Lane said. He was obviously in fan-boy mode, and none of SG-1 knew what to do with it. It just reinforced Sam's feelings of how cute they all were. "You saved the world in those things. We're still trying to reverse engineer some things, but they're a part of history now."

"We didn't save the world in the gliders," Daniel pointed out. "We just escaped in them. Well, these guys did. I just… Gated back…" He trailed off when he caught the matching looks Jack and Kawalsky were giving him. It was the "Daniel, _really_?" look he got at least three times a day. "But you're right, Major Lane," Daniel smoothed over quickly.

Lane, still in awe of being around his heroes, had no problem letting Daniel's literal slip go by. He showed them a few more labs, and then, once they stopped by the bioresearch lab, they finally met up with Maybourne. He slipped out of the bioresearch lab, purposefully blocking SG-1 and Sam's view of anything they might see.

"Maybourne," Jack greeted evenly.

"O'Neill," Maybourne returned with that smarmy little smirk.

Jack nodded his head towards the closed lab door. "Is that where you keep the little green men, then?"

The smirk dropped from Maybourne's face. "There are no alien life forms at Area 51."

"Present company excluded, of course," Jack said pleasantly. Teal'c stared down disdainfully at Maybourne, and Jack was pleased when Maybourne took a step back. The two of them had a history—Maybourne was the one who tried to have Teal'c imprisoned and taken to another secret base in the name of "research" after all.

"What are you doing here, Jack?" Maybourne finally asked. "Besides wasting my time, that is." He cast a glance at the young major, who had been eagerly listening and watching the whole exchange. "Major, you can leave," he ordered.

Lane left, but they were sure that the whole exchange would go through the gossip mill soon enough. Jack suppressed a grin at that. Plenty of people found Teal'c to be intimidating, but it was nice to know that he could use that against Maybourne and the rest of the NID.

"Yeah, we were assuming that the Touchstone was brought here," Jack said in answer to Maybourne's question.

Maybourne's brow furrowed, and credit had to be given where credit was due—he was awfully good at playing dumb. "The what?"

"The Touchstone," Sam repeated. She was unable to hold back, and she was more than just a little bit irked that someone with such a shady background now had a position of power in Area 51. It was supposed to be a research facility, a place of science and discovery. Maybourne and the NID were probably going to turn it into something dark, and Sam couldn't stand the thought. "You might call it by a different name. It's the device that controls the weather, from the planet designated as PX7-941."

Maybourne barely spared her a glace, but that one brief look said it all: while they had worked together once, their uneasy alliance was clearly over. She was just a scientist, and he was colonel employed by the NID, and he had no time for her. "You were sent on a fool's errand, then," Maybourne said, addressing SG-1. "There's no device like that here."

"Let's see the second Stargate, then," Daniel said pleasantly. Maybourne opened his mouth to ask why, but closed it at the inquisitive, slightly dopey smile on Daniel's face. It was the look that tricked many people, and it was working now—especially when it was impacted by Teal'c's slightly terrifying presence.

They headed deeper into facility, and went into a storage warehouse. There was only a singular, large crate in there—one large enough to hold the Stargate. Jack and Teal'c undid the latches and pushed it off. Teal'c hoisted himself easily up into the crate, and Sam put her hands on the edge, looking at Jack for permission. He nodded his head and laced his fingers together, giving Sam a lift up so she could climb into the crate as well.

Jack boosted Sam up, and once she had grabbed the edge, he put his hands on her waist and helped her the rest of the way into the crate.

Sam was proud of herself for not faltering at the feel of his large hands on her waist, even though she almost slipped. Teal'c extended a hand and helped her in once she swung a leg over, and the pushed aside the packing covering the Stargate together.

"See," Maybourne crowed, clearly pleased with himself. "It's here, and it's been on lockdown, and it hasn't even been powered up since it was brought here from Antarctica. Are you satisfied?"

Kawalsky shrugged, and then he pulled himself up by the edge of the crate and peered in, looking at the Stargate. "Not really," he said, his voice deceptively casual and carefree. "It just means that the Gate was packaged up real nicely after it was used."

Maybourne's eyes narrowed. "I don't know what you're trying to imply, Major, but—"

"You know exactly what I'm trying to imply, Colonel." Kawalsky's tone had the utmost respect, but his meaning was clear.

"Uh, Jack?" Sam said after a long moment of tense silence.

"Carter?" Jack responded from his place on the floor. He had his arms crossed over his chest as he glared at Maybourne, with Daniel and now Kawalsky flanking him on either side. They made quite the intimidating picture.

"This Stargate is a fake." She crouched and tapped it with her knuckles while Teal'c stood protectively over her. "It's plastic." She had spent years studying this piece of technology. She knew the real thing when she saw it, and this definitely wasn't it.

"What?" Maybourne spluttered as they all charged towards the crate at the same time. "That's impossible!"

"Dr. Carter is correct," Teal'c confirmed.

The rest of SG-1 pulled themselves into the crate then, just to see for themselves. The replica _looked_ like the real thing—at least from far enough away. To a trained eye—like Sam's, or like SG-1's, given how many times they had walked through the thing—it was obvious that it wasn't real. Jack knocked his own knuckles against it just to see the look on Maybourne's face once again when the hollow sound reverberated through the hanger.

"Where the hell is the second Stargate?" Jack demanded.

"It's obviously been moved!" Maybourne exclaimed.

"And replaced with a fake one," Sam pointed out. "What's with the subterfuge?" Her eyes narrowed, and she was gratified when Maybourne looked away. "Who would have the need to replace the second Stargate with a fake one?"

Jack shared a look with Sam. "Someone who needed to use it without raising any red flags."

"That's highly speculative, Colonel O'Neill," Maybourne snapped.

Jack threw his hands up in the air and climbed out of the crate, dropping to the floor with deadly grace. He stalked right up to Maybourne until he was in his face. "You tell me the punishment for losing a Stargate, then, Maybourne. Something tells me it won't turn out well for you."

Maybourne looked extremely uncomfortable, but, as usual, he couldn't keep his mouth shut. "That's assuming that there wasn't any authorization to move the second Stargate."

Daniel, sensing that Jack was nearing the end of his patience, climbed down from the crate as well. "And who would have that authorization?" he asked.

Sniffing, Maybourne managed to look haughty despite the situation he now found himself in. "That's classified."

Kawalsky snorted. "We have the highest clearance."

"Within the military, you do," Maybourne pointed out, an annoyingly smug look on his face.

It didn't take long for SG-1 and Sam to catch on to Maybourne's cryptic meaning. It was Jack who spoke, with barely contained rage. "Are you telling me that this is a civilian operation?"

Back at the SGC, General Hammond had assumed as much but they had had no real evidence to back it up. With Maybourne's words, it was all but confirmed, and it was infuriating. People who only knew about Stargate, and hadn't had any actual experience at the SGC, let along gone through the Stargate, had no business making decisions about anything happening off-world.

There was another long beat of silence. "Let it go, Jack," Maybourne finally said. His voice was uncannily serious, and there was something in his eyes that none of them liked.

"Let it go?" Jack repeated. He took one step forward and gripped the front of Maybourne's jacket. " _Let it go?_ Are you fucking kidding me, Maybourne?"

"Jack!" Daniel and Sam yelled at the same time, while Kawalsky and Teal'c just watched their commanding officer, looking supremely unconcerned.

Sam moved the fastest (given that Teal'c and Kawalsky were making no move to stop Jack), and scrambled to the edge of the crate before dropping over the side. She wasn't nearly as graceful as Jack, and nearly ended up on her face for her efforts. Sam managed to right herself at the last second and ran over to Jack, sliding a hand over his arm, and—wow. He had some really impressive biceps.

That was so not where her mind needed to be going right now, and Sam pushed those thoughts away. She tightened her fingers on his arm and said, "Jack, he's not worth it."

"Are you sure?" Jack asked. There was a dark undercurrent of anger in his voice, but he looked over at Sam with a humorless smile. "Because I think it might be."

Even though Jack was still gripping the front of Maybourne's jacket, Sam laughed a little. "Yeah, probably not."

Maybourne looked between Sam and Jack, mildly horrified. "You two are very odd."

* * *

They were back to square one, and not even Sam's father or stepfather could help them. They were in a veritable blackout of information, getting stonewalled at every turn. It didn't help that the readings on every instrument Sam had for the Touchstone dropped to zero. They had either stopped using it or had found a way to mask it, and either way, it didn't help their situation at all.

SG-1 and Sam were sitting in the briefing room at the SGC with General Hammond, staring stonily at one another. Suddenly, Sam jumped out of her chair. "Okay, so there might not be a way to track the Touchstone, but we _can_ track the second Stargate."

"Oh sure!" Jack had been short-tempered ever since his confrontation with Maybourne, and it seemed that nothing anyone said helped. They all had pretty much stopped talking to Jack since they got on the plane to head back to Colorado. They were all exhausted with traveling so much within twenty-four hours and given the severity of their situation, they were all on edge.

"Let's just put an APB out for a huge honkin' two-story metal ring with thirty-nine little pictures all nicely engraved on it!"

Sam's eyes narrowed at the colonel, and she didn't think she had ever been so annoyed with him in all the time she had known him. "That's really unnecessary, you know," she said quietly.

With those few words, Jack sat back in his chair and looked contrite for the first time since they had left Area 51. Aware that the rest of his team and his commanding officer were watching them, he resisted the urge to reach out and touch her. He just settled for catching her gaze with his instead, conveying through his eyes just how sorry he was.

Still, he needed to say the words out loud. "I'm sorry, Sam," he said quietly. "It's just…"

"I know," Sam said quickly. Once again, she was floored by the fact that Jack O'Neill was openly apologizing to her—and in front of other people, too! She cast a quick glance around the room, just in case anyone was shocked as well. Sam was a little annoyed to find that the rest of SG-1 and General Hammond were giving her annoyingly insightful looks, as if they knew something she didn't.

So Sam decided that it would just be best to explain her idea. They would Gate to Medrona, and then immediately redial Earth while purposefully overloading the Stargate, with the hopes that it would jump to the second one and reveal the location. They would send the MALP through when they overloaded the Gate on Medrona with power, so no one would have to risk their life to go through. The MALP's GPS would provide them with the coordinates of the second Stargate.

Jack and Daniel went to Medrona to prep the MALP and get it to the second Stargate on Earth, while Sam parked her butt in front of a computer in the control room and tracked the device the whole time. Kawalsky sat at a computer next to her, running diagnostics, while Teal'c and General Hammond stood behind both of them.

In the end, the telemetry from the MALP was cut off, but not before Sam had narrowed down the coordinates to southern Utah. General Hammond called Henry and Jacob once again, and together the three of them got an officially unofficial location south of the Black Mountains.

General Hammond informed SG-1 that there was helicopter waiting for them topside, and they dispersed quickly in order to get ready for their mission. This time, they were going to get the Touchstone back—there was no other option.

"I'm going with you," Sam stated before Jack could leave the room.

He stopped in the doorway of the briefing room and turned around slowly. Even though General Hammond was still standing there, he couldn't hold back. "The hell you are," he said. "Sam, we don't know if these people are friendly or not. God only knows what could go down once we get there."

Sam lifted her chin stubbornly. "I'm not sitting this one out, Jack. I've been with this since the beginning. I'm going to be there when you get the Touchstone back."

"Carter—"

"Jack." This time, it was General Hammond's quiet voice that stopped him. "You're right. We don't know what you and your team could be walking into. But the presence of a civilian… especially Dr. Carter… well, that could change things. They might be less likely to fire on you if she's there."

"If you think I'm going to let Sam walk into a potentially hostile situation with an unknown civilian-run organization that's stealing technology from other planets, you have to be insane—" Jack began hotly.

General Hammond rolled his eyes, but it was Sam that spoke. "No one is saying that, Jack," she said patiently. "Things might just go a little more smoothly with a civilian scientist there, you know."

He eyed her warily. "The whole point of this is to go in with stealth, you know. It's not going to be like the trip to Area 51."

Sam shrugged her shoulders and smiled. "Okay. So if you get caught, I'll help Daniel with the whole puppy dog eyes thing."

Jack stared at her for another long moment before he exhaled slowly and finally nodded his head. Sam had proven on more than one occasion that she could competently handle herself in high-stress situations. That didn't mean that he wouldn't make her stay in the car until he told her to come out, but she didn't need to know that.

Instead of voicing those thoughts, Jack grumbled, "I don't get caught."

* * *

"You're staying in the car."

"What?" Sam paused in trying to adjust her bullet-proof vest and stared at Jack with wide eyes. "No, I'm not."

He got a pained look on his face, like he was battling a sudden headache. Jack pinched the bridge of his nose between his thumb and pointer finger and prayed for patience. "Yes, you are."

"No, I'm not," Sam repeated. "If the Touchstone is in there—which, I'm sure it is—someone is going to need to make sure that's working properly."

"Great. You can do that _after_ we apprehend whoever's in there."

"What if they escape and try to take the Touchstone with them? In case you've forgotten, there's a Stargate in there. That would make it pretty easy to get away."

Sam knew that provoking Jack was a bad idea, but she couldn't seem to help herself. She wanted in on this mission, and she wanted to find the Touchstone and bring it back safely to Medrona. Maybe it was because it had been at Area 51 at one point, and Sam wanted to prove that not everyone on that base wanted to betray their country and their planet by stealing from other alien cultures. She couldn't explain why she felt the need to shoulder this burden, but it was important to her.

Jack stared at her, and she knew that he understood. He cursed under his breath before he reached into his thigh holster and pulled out his zat. He handed it to her and stared at her with hard, uncompromising eyes.

"You stay behind me. You do nothing without my orders. Do you understand?"

Sam swallowed hard and licked her lips. Her heart was beating loudly in her ears, and she was suddenly aware of the fact that in the past few minutes they were arguing, Jack was now right in front of her face, with only a few inches of space between them. Those few centimeters of space seemed to sizzle with electricity, and Sam saw the way that Jack's eyes watched as her tongue wet her lips once again.

"I understand," she whispered.

There, crouched in the backseat of the SUV, Sam and Jack stared at one another. A long beat of silence passed, and then another. Finally, it seemed like one or both of them was about the close the small gap between them—and then Kawalsky rapped his knuckles against the window.

"Let's go!" he hissed.

With another curse, Jack pulled back from Sam and climbed out of the car. Daniel, Teal'c, and Kawalsky were standing there, wearing matching looks of amusement with their arms crossed over their chests. Jack took one look at the rest of his team, muttered a choice, four-lettered word under his breath, and shook his head.

"Shut the hell up," he ordered, even though none of them had said anything.

Sam climbed out of the SUV then, mercifully depriving the rest of his team from actually saying anything. Together, they headed towards the warehouse where the stolen, second Stargate was being held. They took up their positions, and Jack made sure that Sam was in his sights at all times. He had Teal'c stationed at her rear, just in case, but he was proud of the way she took in her surroundings and waited for his next order to move.

While Sam had gone off-world with SG-1 multiple times at that point, this was the first time that she truly got to see them in their element. The situation on Avnil was an unusual one, and had been centered around the fact that her ex-fiancé was a psycho. Their initial trip to Medrona hadn't given Sam a chance to see how SG-1 really worked, since they had to go through some quick negotiations in order to make it back to Earth in one piece.

This time, though, on this mission, Sam got to see just how well SG-1 gelled together as a team. They anticipated one another's moves with hardly any cue, verbal or physical, and they moved together seamlessly. They shouldn't have worked, but they did. And Sam was inordinately pleased to find that she slipped in and meshed with them, moving with them and following orders like she had been doing it for years.

It was almost disgustingly easy to get into the warehouse, but the situation dissolved quickly from there. How the NID had gotten a hold of a DHD, Sam was sure she would never know, but they used it to dial out. There was a box that the occupants of the room kept trying to grab for, but Jack and Kawalsky kept up a steady stream of fire around the box—enough to keep the members of the NID away, but not enough to injure anyone.

One by one, the members of the NID dove through the active Stargate until there was no one left, and the Gate deactivated. The danger gone, Sam scrambled for the small crate that the NID had been trying to take with them, confident that it held what they were looking for.

"Carter, damn it!" Jack exclaimed when she darted past him and towards the crate once the Stargate had deactivated.

She barely paused to toss a glare over her shoulder. "They're gone, Jack," she stated as she knelt in front of the small crate and flipped the latches. "I think we're good." Opening the crate, she reached in and pulled out the Touchstone. She held it up triumphantly, smiling brightly at the rest of SG-1.

Whoever was working for the NID might have escaped, but at least they could return the Touchstone to Medrona.

* * *

 **twenty-one.**

The Touchstone had been returned, and the perfect conditions had been reprogrammed back onto the device for Medrona. Some time would pass before the weather conditions—on Earth and Medrona alike—would officially return to normal, but everything would be okay. The SGC even had an official, new treaty to boot, complete with a few deposits of Naquadah that they could mine. With the exception of the discovery of a civilian-run, top-secret organization that was stealing technology from other planets, it hadn't been a _bad_ mission, exactly.

Just, you know. Not a great one.

It was something that Jack kept in mind as he watched the second Stargate be unloaded into the SGC, where an iris would be welded over it, and where it would be kept under twenty-four hour guard. While it was true that at the moment, they didn't know just how far the NID's reach was, Jack was confident that they would catch the people who were running this whole operation.

SG-1 was getting some well-deserved time off. Finding out about a secret organization that was working behind the SGC's back was stressful, and General Hammond thankfully recognized that fact and had granted them all a week of downtime before SG-1 would be sent on their next mission.

Jack had plans for that week. Those plans involved dinner, some music, some ambient lighting in the form of a campfire, and one Dr. Samantha Carter.

Jack didn't know what it was that had prompted him to suddenly make his move. Maybe it was watching the way she had latched her bullet-proof vest over her chest as she vehemently argued with him about whether or not she as going into that warehouse in Utah with him. Maybe it was the way she had stood with his team, every step of the way, as they tried to find out what happened with the Touchstone. Maybe it was the way that she was, and maybe it was something that he had felt for her ever since he had walked into the Gate room and had seen her pinned to wall with the orb from P5C-353.

Whatever the reason, he knew he was ready. That thought was more than a little unnerving, but Jack welcomed it.

The blast door to Sam's lab had been closed. After everything they had gone through over the past week, Sam had decided that she needed a little time to herself. So Jack entered though the door on the side, and she looked up from her laptop in surprise.

"Jack!" Sam smiled and pushed her laptop away. "Did you finish your briefing with General Hammond?" Sam had given her own report of what had happened with General Hammond, of course, but he had me with Jack separately after the rest of the team had left.

"Yeah," Jack said as he waved his hand dismissively. "It went well. Listen, I wanted to ask you something."

"Sure." Sam got that furrow between her brows, the one that Jack found to be unbelievably cute, and the one that he wanted to smooth away with this thumb. "What's up?"

Asking Sam on the date was on the tip of Jack's tongue. Instead, what came out of his mouth was, "What the hell were you thinking when you disobeyed my direct orders and went for the box with the Touchstone?"

Sam blinked at him, and Jack wanted to bash his head into her work table for voicing the question that had been on his mind ever since they had returned from Utah. Still, he clamped his jaw shut and waited for her answer. Now that it was out there, he supposed it would be better to wait and see what she would say.

Of course, what Sam finally said only served to infuriate Jack further. "You never said I couldn't go after the Touchstone…"

"I told you not to do anything without my order," Jack reminded her. "Remember? Or have you conveniently forgotten that part?"

"Jack…"

"No, Sam. I really want to know. Did you forget that part where I said you were to stay where I wanted you to stay put? Those men were armed and dangerous. Anything could have happened!"

"But it didn't! Besides, I had a zat!"

"So what?" Jack threw his hands in the air. In the back of his mind, he wondered how he got here: he had entered the lab on level 17 with the intention of asking Sam out, and instead found himself arguing with her. "A zat can't stop a bullet. Trust me."

Sam knew, of course. She knew exactly how a zat worked, and she knew that Jack had more than enough experience with the alien device. That still didn't stop her from saying, "Maybe not. But I was wearing a bullet-proof vest."

He had been standing on the other side of her workbench when he had entered her office. Now, however, he walked around to the other side, until he was standing directly in front of her. Jack pushed several files full of papers out of the way as he planted his hand on the desk, leaning over her.

"Are you being difficult on purpose?" Jack demanded without thinking.

"Are you?" Sam snapped back. "I can take care of myself! I'm not some helpless woman on another planet, you know."

"I never said you were!" Jack exclaimed. "Hell, you just…" He dragged his hands through his hair and exhaled roughly.

"I what?" Sam demanded. She had no idea what got her so fired up, but she had a feeling that it had something to do with Jack's sudden proximity. One second they had speaking calmly, discussing the mission they had just returned from. Then it had dissolved, and while Sam knew the exact words that had been used to trigger it, she didn't know what to do with the feelings that accompanied it.

Jack stepped closer, directly into her space. Sam didn't back away from him; instead, she titled her head up and stared right into those fascinating amber orbs of his, and was rewarded when she saw the spark of heat flash in his eyes.

"You drive me crazy," Jack murmured before he slipped his hand behind her neck. He hauled her towards him, and Sam didn't have time to think before his lips came down over hers.

* * *

 **So. These chapters seem to be getting longer and longer. I'm sorry? Except I'm not. (Extreme shipiness is about to happen. Prepare yourself.)**

 **If you've noticed, I've been labeling these with numbers with certain breaks. We're on number twenty-one at the moment, to be continued with number twenty-two in the next chapter. When I started writing this whole AU, I did so in vignettes, but I didn't want to post them individually and end up with like a million chapters. Hence the reason you're getting a shorter number of chapters, labeled with numbers.**

 **Once again, many thanks to the Stargate Wiki. I'm not great with the whole techno-babble thing, so you may have noticed that a ton of the dialogue was taken directly from the Touchstone episode. I hope the shippy moments helped, though!**


	7. you feel me somehow

**Just a head's up, this is rated M. It's a pretty mild M, but it's still M.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own anything. The chapter title comes from the song "Iris" by the Goo Goo Dolls.**

* * *

 **twenty-two.**

 _Whoa._

It was the only coherent thought in Sam's mind before it went completely blank.

Jack's hand was on the back of her neck, his lips on hers, and they were standing in her lab. Something had to give, and Sam knew that it had to be her. Unexpectedly, Jack had taken the first step; now it was time for Sam's move.

Unable to think much past the way his firm but soft lips felt against hers, Sam opened her mouth under his. She was rewarded when Jack groaned and stepped closer, allowing Sam to press her hands to his hard chest. His own landed on her hips, pulling her tightly against him as his mouth moved against hers.

Sam was a scientist, but she was positive that there was no way to measure the amount of time that passed between the moment that Jack pressed his lips to hers and when they finally parted. It could have been seconds, or it could have been a lifetime; either way, Sam was left breathless. She blinked slowly up at Jack and pleasantly surprised to find a similarly dazed look on his face.

There were two options now: wait for them both to come down from that pleasurable, almost buzzed-like feeling and discuss what had just happened or… let it happen again.

In the interest of science, Sam went with option number two.

Kissing Jack the second time was just as good as—if not better than—kissing him the first time. This time around, when Sam opened her lips beneath his, Jack's tongue swept forward. Someone moaned; it could have been one or both of them, but Sam wasn't about to pull back to find out.

With his hands still on her hips, Jack backed her up against her work table. Sam slid her own hand up his chest and wrapped her arms around his neck. Then eventually, without Sam even realizing it, Jack's lips were moving against the curve of her jaw and down her neck. She was suddenly sitting on her workbench, her skirt bunched up with Jack standing in the space between her legs.

"We should probably…" Sam gasped when Jack bit down lightly on the sensitive curve of her neck, and she closed her eyes briefly as she scrambled to get a hold of her thoughts. They were in her lab. Anyone could walk in, and… and she couldn't really bring herself to care when Jack's mouth was doing _that_.

Sam took a deep breath and forged ahead. "We should stop," she murmured. Even as she spoke, her fingers threaded through Jack's surprisingly soft hair, encouraging him to stay exactly where he was. She could feel him smile against her neck, and she groaned. "You're infuriating."

That got her another little nip, this one near her collarbone. "You are," Jack retorted against her skin.

"Mature," Sam told him as she tugged lightly on his hair. Jack got the hint and lifted his head, standing directly in front of her with his mouth only a breath from hers. He stared into her eyes, unblinking, steady and sure.

"We should talk about this," Sam finally said.

"We should," Jack agreed.

Neither of them moved. Neither of them said anything.

They continued to breathe the same air, just watching one another. Jack was still standing between Sam's parted legs, with his hands on either side of her hips, palms pressed to her workbench, caging her in. Sam had yet to untangle her fingers from Jack's hair, and her arms were loosely draped over his shoulders.

Jack's eyes fell to her lips again. Sam arched an eyebrow, and Jack looked back up at her. He had the grace to look the slightest bit sheepish, but there was an unapologetic twinkle in his eyes. "We _will_ talk about this," he promised.

Sam's arms tightened around his neck. "But not right now," she said with a nod of her head.

Jack grinned. "No. Not right now."

Then he kissed her again.

* * *

Jack knew that the first time he had gone to ask Sam to dinner, it had completely derailed when he kissed her. That was mostly his fault; he knew that, and he was willing to admit it. Besides, things had taken an excellent turn when she kissed him back, so Jack hadn't really minded that he had lost sight of his original objective in that moment.

The second time he missed asking Sam to dinner, it was one hundred percent her fault. Jack would swear it up and down to anyone who would listen—if anyone knew that he and Sam were sneaking around and making out, that is.

He figured he was safe this time. Sure, they were in her lab again, but it was first thing in the morning, and they were both gripping their respective cups of coffee like they were lifelines. Sam likely wasn't in the mood for conversation, let alone any type of kiss.

So he walked in to her lab, and he said hello, and when she turned around and looked at him, there was a look in her eyes that made every nerve in his body go on high-alert. Jack watched as Sam very purposefully set aside her coffee cup, and then decided that it was probably a good idea for him to do the same.

Sam said hi to him, but she did it in a distracted sort of way. She walked around her work bench, that heated look still in her eyes, and Jack was too fascinated to question what she was doing.

When Sam pressed her hands to his chest and told him that she wanted to try something, he knew he was a goner. He couldn't even remember why he had decided to go into her lab in the first place, but he was suddenly very glad that he had.

Jack had been the one to put a stop to that little impromptu make out session when they heard Daniel's voice in the hall outside Sam's lab, yelling something about a device that SG-6 had brought back from P2X-489. By the time Daniel had entered Sam's lab—still talking a mile a minute—Sam and Jack were once again on opposite sides of the work bench, holding their own cups of coffee once again.

As casual as they were acting, there were still tell-tale signs of what Jack and Sam had been up to moments before Daniel had come careening into Sam's lab. The tinted lip balm Sam had been wearing was completely gone, and the hair she had pinned back in a clip had come half-way loose, curling around her shoulders. There was a flush to her cheeks that Jack was strangely proud to have put there, and her eyes were bright. The collar of her shirt was stick up awkwardly, and her lips had the very obvious signs of being just kissed—not to mention the red skin on Sam's neck where Jack's five o'clock shadow had rubbed against it.

Jack knew that he wasn't looking much better. He had a feeling that his hair was sticking up more than usual from where Sam had run her fingers through it, and his black t-shirt was half un-tucked from his pants. Even though Daniel was still yammering away as he entered Sam's lab, Jack knew that his teammate was cataloguing every single detail their appearance.

It was a honestly a toss-up with Daniel—he could either ignore whatever was going on in front of him in favor of whatever it was that he was nerding out about, or he would grab a hold of it and refuse to let go until he got answers. Jack could practically see the gears turning in Daniel's head, and he knew that it was going to be one of those times when it was the latter.

Daniel abruptly stopped talking about whatever boring device from whatever boring ancient civilization he had been focused on in favor of staring at his two friends with narrowed eyes. "What's going on here?" he finally asked as he gestured between the two of them.

"What?" Sam squeaked immediately. Jack was caught between wanting to roll his eyes and grin at her reaction. She was so obvious, but so adorable. "Nothing's going on."

Daniel stared at Sam hard for a long moment; he knew there was no use looking at Jack, since he would give nothing away. Sure enough, when Daniel glanced at Jack, he saw that the commander of his team was standing with his arms crossed over his chest, watching with an eyebrow slightly arched. He had a look of general, bland amusement on his face.

Even so, Daniel wasn't stupid. He knew the look of someone who had just been kissed thoroughly, and both Sam and Jack had all the signs, no matter how hard they tried to hide it.

Sam was trying so hard to be casual that Daniel ended up taking pity on her. He showed her the file folder about the device that SG-6 had brought back, and Jack lasted exactly thirty-four seconds before he made his escape.

He couldn't help but wink at Sam as he left, though, and he was gratified to see her blush in return.

* * *

"We should go out to dinner."

The words blurted from Sam's lips without her permission. She bit her lip, cursing under her breath in annoyance at her verbal slip. She had a whole speech prepared, and it had ended with a very non-awkward invitation to dinner at Sam's house. Instead, she walked into the gym, saw Jack curling a dumbbell, and every coherent thought she had had flown out of her mind.

Jack was so surprised by Sam's sudden declaration, he almost dropped the dumbbell on his foot. He managed to recover nicely, though, he continued to curl his arm towards his body. He saw the way Sam was eyeing him as she entered the gym, and he was prepared to use whatever floated her boat to his advantage.

"What?" Jack finally managed intelligently.

"Dinner," Sam repeated as her cheeks flushed bright red. "I was thinking… it might be nice. If we went. Together."

Jack set aside the dumbbell and stared at Sam for a long moment. Instead of teasing her for being awkward and babbling, he said, "I was supposed to ask you."

"What?" Out of all of the things that Sam imagined Jack saying, that was nowhere on her list. "Why? What does that even mean?"

" _I_ was supposed to ask _you_ on a date, Sam," Jack repeated, as if that explained everything. "And here you come, completely derailing my plans _again_ …"

Sam's brow furrowed. "Well, don't you think we should go to dinner? I didn't think I was getting the wrong vibe from you, given the kissing, and all."

"Yes, I think we should go to dinner."

"Great. I'm glad that's settled." Sam poked Jack in the chest then, her eyes narrowing. "And what do you mean, I derailed your plans _again_? I wasn't aware I had derailed them a first time."

"You did!" Jack accused. "In your lab, two days ago! I went in there to ask you out to dinner, and you had that _look_ in your eyes, and you said you wanted to _try_ something, and I…" Jack shrugged his shoulders and rubbed the back of his neck. "I got distracted."

Sam's face flushed again, recalling with perfect clarity just what had gone through her mind when Jack had walked into her lab two mornings ago. "Oh, that." She lifted her chin, refusing to admit that she had any fault for that. "It was really your doing, if you must know."

"Oh really?" There was a spark in Jack's eyes, one that was both heated and amused, and Sam was suddenly very thankful that they were the only two people in the gym. "How's that?"

Sam knew that she was being ridiculous, but she had started this, and she needed to see it through. "It was the t-shirt."

"The t-shirt."

"Yes. The t-shirt."

Just remembering the way that Jack had looked two mornings ago, standing in her lab, was getting Sam all hot and bothered once again. He was wearing his olive green BDU pants, with his black t-shirt tucked in at his trim waist. Sam was positive that no one wore a plain black t-shirt better than Jack O'Neill—the cotton had stretched across his broad chest and shoulders, and the cuffs of the short sleeves had hugged his muscular biceps.

That t-shirt, coupled with the stubble he had yet to shave, and the way his hair had been sticking up, had created quite the enticing picture for Sam. She had been unable to resist touching him, and kissing him had been just as easy. Even though they had been making out in her lab once again, Sam had known just how right it was to kiss Jack O'Neill when his lips had been warm and receptive underneath hers.

Now, Jack was grinning at her. "The t-shirt, huh?"

Sam crossed her arms and jutted her chin out. "Yes," she confirmed, annoyed that he was making her repeat it.

"You know…" Jack took a step towards her, and it hadn't escaped Sam's notice that he was wearing a black t-shirt and a pair of work out shorts. She should have kept her feelings about Jack and black t-shirts to herself, and her thoughts were confirmed when Jack said, "I wear a black t-shirt every day."

"I know," Sam said. She turned away from him slightly, as if that would help. She could practically feel a physical, nearly magnetic pull towards Jack. It wasn't even just because of the black t-shirt, and he knew it, damn him. "So?"

Jack's grin broadened. "So, I must be pretty difficult to resist. That's all."

Sam rolled her eyes, but she could feel her cheeks heating up once again. "Oh, I think I'll manage." Of course, Jack just puffed his chest out a little bit and watched for her reaction Despite his antics, Sam couldn't help but smile. "You got a dinner date out of me. What more do you want?"

Jack glanced around quickly, and he took note of their position. There were security cameras in the gym, of course, but they were directed at the entrance and the main floor. The set of weights Jack had been using was off towards the right corner, and he knew for a fact that it was one of the blind spots with the security cameras.

Confident that they wouldn't be seen by anyone, Jack took Sam's hand and pulled her towards him. The kiss he laid on her lips was brief but hot; heated with hard lips and tongue, pouring his pent up passion from the past two days into the contact.

Sam responded to him instantly, curling her fingers into his black t-shirt as she parted her lips under his. He slung an arm around her waist, pulling her hips against his as he kissed her hard.

Jack released her only a few moments later, smirking when he saw her blink dazedly. She smoothed her hand over her hair and looked towards the door of the gym, thinking that it was probably a good idea to leave before things got too out of hand.

"So…" Sam stumbled slightly, but it was hard to focus when she could still feel the imprint of Jack's lips on hers—not to mention the way he was looking at her. "Dinner?"

"Tonight," Jack confirmed with a nod of his head. "I'll pick you up at seven."

"Seven," Sam repeated. Jack was still smirking at her, and she finally managed to shake the dazed feeling off. She resolved to make Jack the same when she saw him again, and that made a smirk of her own form on her lips.

* * *

She was wearing a little black dress.

Jack was convinced that Sam was trying to kill him.

He hadn't forgotten the incident with the backless ball gown, either. This dress hit at her knees, had tiny black straps, and dipped down in the front just enough. He knew he was staring, and he knew he hadn't said hello yet, but he couldn't seem to make his brain connect to his mouth.

Sam was grinning, and she knew that she had gotten her payback for his little stunt in the gym earlier. She propped a hand on her hip and leaned against her front door. "Hi, Colonel O'Neill."

Jack blinked and finally looked up at her. "Dr. Carter," he said, glad to see that she was amused rather than annoyed at the way he had been so blatantly checking her out. "You look amazing."

"Thank you." She flushed slightly and stepped out fully out of her house, pulling the door shut behind her. Jack tugged her to a stop with a hand on her hip, and he leaned down to brush a kiss over her cheek. Sam took a moment to appreciate just how good Jack looked.

It wasn't a set of dress blues, but he still looked fantastic. He had on a pair of gray slacks and a simple, black v-neck sweater that emphasized his broad shoulders and the slight silver in his hair. He squeezed her hip as he pulled away, and the slight flush on Sam's cheeks spread.

He took her in to town, to a nice Italian place that Sam fell in love with immediately. He didn't tease her when she ate four breadsticks, but he did smile in an almost sweet way as she dipped the end of her fourth one in the seasoned olive oil. Sam giggled when Jack ordered a slice of chocolate cake between their appetizers and the main course and kept it on the table between them. He didn't even touch it even before their entrees were delivered, and Sam managed not to ask about the cake for a full three minutes before she finally caved.

"Care to share why you ordered the cake now?" Sam questioned. There it was, just sitting on the table between them, with luscious looking chocolate icing and two layers of mousse that Sam was just dying to try.

"How long have you been waiting to ask me about the cake?" Jack asked with a grin.

"Since you ordered it," Sam admitted.

Jack shrugged his shoulders and leaned back in his chair, taking a sip of his beer. "I like cake," he stated.

"You like cake?" Sam repeated. She couldn't help the giggle that escaped her, and Jack arched a playful eyebrow at the sound. "That's it?"

"That's it. It's not complicated. I'm a simple man, Sam."

Sam picked up her wine glass and took a sip. "I think you only want people to think you're simple, Jack O'Neill." He stared at her then, and Sam had a feeling that she had just touched on something that many people didn't acknowledge, let alone say out loud. "I'm just saying, you're just…" Sam was brilliant, but she suddenly found herself at a loss for words.

To Sam's relief, Jack smiled. "You really are a genius, aren't you?"

"Some would say so," Sam said primly with a shrug of her shoulders.

Their main dishes were delivered then—chicken parmesan for him, baked ziti for her. The dishes were huge and the food was delicious and Sam knew that she would have leftovers for at least another two nights. Jack let her try a piece of his chicken parmesan without her even having to ask, and she pushed her plate towards the middle of the table when she saw him eyeing her baked ziti.

Halfway through eating her side salad, Sam decided she couldn't take it anymore. She practically dove for the cake but stopped with her fork hovering over the decadent chocolate icing, and she noticed that Jack was watching her with a highly amused look on his face.

"The cake is staring at me," she said accusingly, as if it was Jack's fault. Which really, it was. He was the one who ordered the cake in the middle of their meal, after all.

"Have some," Jack encouraged. He pushed the plate towards her. "You know you want to."' Oh, there were a lot of things that Sam wanted in that moment—and none of those things were appropriate for such a public venue. But she would settle for the cake—and she was damn glad that she had, since it was quite possibly the best cake she had ever had.

They took the rest of their entrees to go and shared the cake and a dish of vanilla ice cream. Jack drove her home and walked her to her front door. He handed her another white paper bag, and Sam opened it to find extra breadsticks from the restaurant.

Jack was grinning at her as her mouth dropped open. Those really were the best breadsticks she had ever had, and she couldn't believe that he had gone out of his way to get her extra just so she could have some with her leftovers.

Or, right after she walked through her front door. It's not like Jack would know, anyway.

Holding on to her breadsticks, Sam threw her arms around Jack's neck and kissed him on her front porch. He kissed her again before she went inside, and both of them were grinning like fools the entire time.

* * *

 **twenty-three.**

"Tell me more about this date!"

"Janet!" Sam glanced around the hallway, trying to make sure that no one had heard, even though no one would know what she was talking about. It's not like any random SF would know that Janet was demanding to know details about Sam and Jack's date.

"What?" Janet was completely unapologetic. "This is huge, you know. The colonel has been working here for almost four years now, and he hasn't shown interest in _anyone_. Do you understand? _Anyone_."

"I got it, Janet." Sam swiped her access card at her lab and gestured for Janet to walk through. She followed her friend into the lab and smacked right into Janet's back. "Damn it, Jan, why did you stop? I—"

Sam suddenly saw why Janet had stopped so abruptly in the doorway to her lab. She gaped at what had once been her pristine lab, her mouth hanging open and her eyes wide in an expression that matched her best friend's.

"What… the… _hell_ ," Sam finally managed.

Her entire lab was filled with packing peanuts, waist high from the floor up, and all over her desks and in her cabinets and drawers. Every single surface was covered, and even the drawer that she had her chocolate stashed in was full. Some of the packing peanuts had spilled out into the hallway when she had opened the sliding door to her lab, and the people that were walking by could see the whole thing.

"Oh my god." Janet was clearly trying to hide her laughter, and she wasn't doing a very good job of it. "You're a part of the prank wars!"

"The prank wars?" Sam repeated. She had worked at the SGC for just over a year, and while she had heard that the SG teams had frequently went around pulling pranks on one another, she didn't know of any that had included any of the scientists.

"Clearly." Janet nodded her head, indicating the packing peanuts. "They must be targeting you because you've been working so closely with SG-1." Janet gasped and clapped her hands together. "Oh my god, what if they find out just how _close_ you are to some of the members of SG-1?"

" _Janet!_ " Sam groaned and kicked her foot towards the packing peanuts. They crunched under her foot and she wanted to stomp all over them in anger. The simple, childish prank was brilliant, and Sam's mind was already spinning with what she was going to do in retaliation.

"Sam! Sam, Sam Sam, don't go in your—" Daniel came careening into Sam's lab and skidded to a stop, running directly into the packing peanuts. He groaned and turned to Sam, looking at her with the apologetic puppy dog eyes.

"Oh." Sam planted her hands on her hips and looked at her friend with narrowed eyes. "So you knew about this, then?"

Daniel's voice shot up an octave. "Knew about this? What? What are you talking about? I didn't know anything. I know nothing."

Janet rolled her eyes at her boyfriend. "You really do know nothing, don't you?"

The smile on Daniel's face was charming, and even though they were at work, he dared a kiss on Janet's cheek. "Morning, Janet. How are you this lovely morning?"

Janet's hands were on her hips then, and she was pinning Daniel with the same look that Sam was. "Tell us what you know."

"I—"

" _Now_."

That made Daniel start speaking quickly. "Okay, so Kawalsky wrapped everything in Rodriguez's—you know, the engineer on SG-3—quarters in tin foil. Of course they decided to get back at us, and no one would ever go after Teal'c, so the rest of us were waiting for the retaliation. But it never came. So we've been keeping an eye out, waiting, and we saw Rodriguez and Reynolds coming out of your lab, and…"

"And you _left_ it like this?" Sam demanded. "You knew what they did, and you _left my lab_ like this, full of _packing peanuts_?"

Those puppy dog eyes were back again. "You're angry, aren't you?"

An angry noise in the back of her throat escaped, and Sam threw her hands up in the air. "I can't believe that Janet falls for the puppy dog look so easily! You're ridiculous!"

"Aw, come on, Sam!" Daniel was half-hiding behind Janet at this point, and he felt no shame in it at all. Janet was scary, and he had no problem in using it to his advantage. " I called Kawalsky and Jack, and they're going to be here to help me clean up in five minutes. We'll take care of this, I promise."

Sam froze, her eyes narrowing. "Jack knew about this."

"Uh-oh," Janet murmured.

"Uh-oh? What uh-oh?" Daniel looked alarmed as he glanced between the two best friends. "Why is there an uh-oh?"

"Because Sam just went on a date with Jack," Janet explained. "And now she finds out that he knew that her lab had been violated?"

"Calling it a violation is a bit overly dramatic, don't you think?" Daniel asked. At the look on Janet's face, he quickly backtracked. "Or not. You're not being dramatic at all. This is a violation. A complete violation."

Sam cupped her hand around her mouth. "Nice save," she whispered loudly.

Daniel sighed, but he was saved by Jack and Kawalsky suddenly appearing. Teal'c was right behind them, with his hands clasped behind his back. He took one look at all of the packing peanuts and raised a singular eyebrow. Jack was grinning as he entered Sam's lab, and he nodded his head, looking fairly impressed.

"Reynolds really outdid himself this time," Jack said. He missed the way that Daniel was standing behind Sam and Janet, waving his hands and mouthing the word "no" over and over again. Kawalsky didn't, though, and he was already snickering away.

"Jack." Sam smiled sweetly and stepped forward, directly into Jack's space. "What the _hell_ happened to my lab?"

"Seems like you got pranked," Jack said with a casual shrug of his shoulders.

"Oh, I got pranked, all right," Sam said. "And I heard that you _knew_ about it."

Jack finally noticed that his resident space monkey was still shaking his head emphatically and mouthing the word "no" over and over. "Uh… Am I in some kind of trouble?"

"Absolutely not," Janet said sarcastically. "No trouble at all. Whatever gave you that idea?"

"Aw, come on, Sam!" They were standing close enough together that Jack was able to brush his fingers against hers without being overly obvious about it. While they were surrounded by their closest friends that already knew that they were dating, that didn't mean they wanted to be overt with their displays of affection.

"We're going to get this mess cleaned up," Jack continued. "And we'll get SG-3 back for this, too."

"You know why they did this, don't you?" Kawalsky asked. He had a gleeful smile on his face, and as he dug his hands into the packing peanuts, it was clear that he was entirely too amused by this whole situation.

"Enlighten me," Sam ordered.

Kawalsky's grin broadened. "Because you're SG-1's nerd."

Sam's mouth opened and closed several times, and she was unable to find words to accurately describe how Kawalsky's statement made her feel. Part of her was annoyed at her designation as SG-1's nerd, while another part of her felt all warm and fuzzy over it. It was an interesting mixture of feelings, and she caught Jack watching her, she had a feeling that he knew exactly what she was thinking.

"We should probably start cleaning," Jack suggested wisely.

"We should," Daniel agreed quickly. He scooped up a large pile of packing peanuts and shoved them into Jack's hands, and then did the same to Teal'c. Thankfully, Kawalsky had come armed with several trash bags, and he opened one and held it out to Jack and Teal'c.

Janet looped her arm with Sam's. "Come on, Sam. Let's go get some coffee. It looks like the boys will be busy for a while."

"You're not staying to help?" Kawalsky demanded.

"No," Sam stated bluntly. "You guys are on your own."

Janet waggled her fingers at SG-1, smiling broadly. "See you later."

* * *

SG-1 had gotten their revenge on Sam's behalf with SG-3 quite nicely. Every single item of furniture in their quarters, office, or lab was suspended from the ceiling.

(General Hammond had been caught stomping around the corridors, mumbling about how the people who frequently saved the world were the least mature people he had ever met in his entire life.)

That was all well and good for SG-1, but Sam was looking for something a little… more. The prank wars within the SG teams would continue, and while Sam had nothing against being included, she _did_ want people to know that she wasn't to be messed with.

Like any good scientist, Sam's plan had several steps. The first involved the commissary, where Sam convinced the cooks to make nothing but egg salad sandwiches for SG-3 for an entire week. Phase two had all of their computers switched over to German, complete with printing their reports in the language as well. Finally, phase three had the blast doors locking the klaxons going off every time a member of SG-3 swiped their access card.

Word spread quickly: prank Sam Carter, and not only would you have to face the wrath of SG-1, but you would have to suffer through one of Sam's multi-step pranks, as well.

After she so kindly fixed SG-3's problem at the end of the day on Friday, Sam decided that her work for the day was done, and she should head home before she got distracted by another project. The plus side to heading home at a decent hour included the fact that she planned on calling Jack and seeing if he wanted to come over for pizza.

Sam was headed to her car when she heard someone calling her name. She would know that voice anywhere, and her stomach swooped in anticipation. She smiled broadly at Jack as he jogged towards her, and, damn him, he was wearing a black t-shirt under his leather jacket. He was already smirking as he watched her take him in.

"Jack," Sam greeted in amusement despite the way she wanted to roll her eyes.

He leaned casually against the car that Sam had stopped next to. "I heard a rumor."

"Oh did you?"

"Sure did. It was something about how you were wreaking havoc upon everyone in the SGC because SG-3 pranked you."

Sam crossed her arms over her chest and refused to admit to anything directly, even though Jack obviously knew everything. "Are you talking about all of those weird problems that have been happening with SG-3 recently? I'm afraid I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Sure you don't. It's kind of hot, you know."

Sam's cheeks flushed bright red. "Jack!"

"What?" Jack shrugged his shoulders and pressed his palms to the hood of the car he was leaning against. "It's true."

As soon as Jack's palms touched the car, the alarm started blaring. Jack jumped and sprang away from the car while Sam burst into laughter. She was laughing so hard that she almost fell over, and she had to grab on to Jack's arm for support.

He tried to scowl at her, but he found that her laughter was too contagious. "I'm glad that you find this to be so amusing."

"The car…" Sam gasped between laughter, "…alarm… went off!"

Jack rolled his eyes, took Sam's other arm, hauled her towards him, and kissed her. It turned out to be a very effective way to get Sam to stop talking and giggling, as she responded to his kiss immediately. Her arms went around his neck and she pressed her body against his.

"Want to come over for pizza tonight?" Sam whispered once her lips parted from Jack's.

"And beer?" Jack asked hopefully.

"And beer," Sam confirmed with a laugh.

That made Jack laugh. "You really know the way to my heart, don't you?"

"I already called the pizza order in. You pick that up, and I'll get the beer. Meet you at my place in half an hour?"

Jack agreed and kissed her again before they headed off to their separate cars. Exactly twenty-eight minutes later, Jack was pulling up to Sam's house. He was a little bit surprised to find that she was already there, since the grocery store where Sam had picked up the beer was further out of the way than the pizza place.

He knocked once, pizza in hand, and Sam opened the door. She swapped the pizza for a beer and a kiss on the corner of his mouth, both of which Jack accepted gladly. They headed into the living room, and Sam put the pizza on the coffee table before she headed into the kitchen to get a couple of plates.

Jack was already looking through her DVD collection, and had plucked one from the drawer underneath her television. Sam put a slice of pizza on Jack's plate and handed it to him, trying to take a peek at the movie he had picked.

Jack hid the DVD behind his back. "Don't worry, Sam. I picked a classic."

Unable to resist his charm, Sam sat on the couch and took a bite of her own slice of pizza as Jack commandeered her television and DVD player. She recognized the title music immediately, and smiled at the DVD menu that popped up on the television screen.

" _The Wizard of Oz_?" Sam asked.

"It's a classic!" Jack repeated. "This is one of the greatest movies ever made." He looked so happy, so at ease, that even if Sam had wanted to, she wouldn't have been able to say no to watching what was clearly one of his favorite movies.

Sam snagged the remote off of the coffee table and hit 'play.' They ate some pizza, drank too much beer, and had some ice cream halfway through the movie. Jack knew every line of the movie, and he was impressed when Sam was able to quote the lines right along with him.

It was towards the end of the movie that the two of them had drifted together on the couch. Each time one of them had gotten up—either to use the bathroom, or to put dishes in the kitchen, or to get more beer or ice cream—they sat closer together on the couch until their sides were practically pressed together.

Sam was doing perfectly alright with that, despite the tingles coursing through her body at the contact of her side against his. She wondered what it was about Jack that made her react so easily, so strongly. It was so easy to be with him, to be herself completely and open up, despite her less than successful past relationships.

She was pulled from her thoughts when Jack nudged his shoulder against hers. "I can hear you thinking, you know."

Sam's nose wrinkled. "You cannot," she retorted, mostly because she was embarrassed that she had been so easy to read. The affectionate, slightly teasing smile on Jack's face let her know that she wasn't fooling him.

Then he reached forward and smoothed his thumb over the furrow between her brows, then tapped the end of her nose. The caress was so sweet and strangely intimate, and it made Sam's heart suddenly squeeze in her chest. She surged up, closing the small gap between them as she pressed her lips to his.

The movie was quickly forgotten as Jack responded eagerly, sliding one hand into her hair and using the other one to palm her behind. He hauled her into his lap, pressing Sam against him intimately. She gasped at the contact and tightened her fingers in his hair as she nipped at his bottom lip. She hadn't even realized that her hands had ended up in his hair, yet there they were. She tugged lightly, causing a low grown to rumble from Jack's chest.

His hands slid under her shirt, and Sam raised her arms, encouraging Jack to pull her t-shirt up and over her head. She had a thin camisole on underneath, and Jack pulled back just long enough to give her an appreciative look before his mouth attached itself to her neck.

Jack placed hot, open-mouthed kisses down the column of her throat before he got to her collarbone. His calloused fingers stroked over her back, and she could feel the heat of his palms through the barely-there fabric of her tank top. His lips glided over the left side of her collarbone before he suddenly bit down and sucked, making Sam gasp sharply as her hips rocked against his.

One of Jack's hands found its way to her hip, and he pressed her down as he rocked up, and Sam moaned. Jack kissed her again then, hard and deep and hot, and by the time he let her up for air, Sam fingers were digging so tightly into Jack's shoulders, she was sure that she was leaving imprints of her fingers.

"Sam…" Jack began.

"Jack…" Sam parroted back.

Jack chuckled and pressed his lips to her cheek. "As much as I'd like to continue this, do you think we should… slow down?"

Sam shrugged her shoulders and then smiled wickedly, rocking her hips against Jack's again. Jack groaned and gripped her waist tightly in his hands, which really only served to turn Sam on even more. There was just something about his large, capable hands that she loved…

Quickly pushing that train of thought away before she got too distracted, Sam said, "We can if you want. But just so _you_ know… I'm not opposed to speeding things up a little."

Jack cursed under his breath and dropped his head to Sam's shoulder, but didn't move to get up from under her. Sam bit back her smile and combed her fingers through his hair soothingly instead. She got where Jack was coming from, even if he didn't quite fully understand it himself. This thing between them was new, and he hadn't had a real relationship in almost four years—and the last relationship he had been in had ended in such a sad, horrible way, it was easy to see why he would want to slow things down a little bit.

All Sam could do was let him know that she was ready for that next step whenever he was. They had time to figure this out, and based on the way that Jack was still holding her—and the arousal she could still feel pressed against her—Jack was definitely on board with whatever relationship they now had.

"You should stay tonight," Sam blurted. She blinked as the words left her mouth, surprised that she had suggested something so forward. Even so, she wouldn't take it back, because… well, she _did_ want him to stay. From the darkening in Jack's eyes, she was positive that he wanted to, as well.

"Are you sure?" Jack asked quietly.

"Yeah." Sam decided that it was best to be as casual as possible. "You can't drive for a while, because of all the beer. By that time, it'll be too late to go home anyway, so… What?" Jack was looking at her with that affectionate, teasing smile again, and it made Sam's heart skip a beat.

"You're cute when you start rationalizing stuff," Jack said.

"I am not _cute_ ," Sam mumbled half-heartedly.

"And you're cute when you're pouting."

"I'm not pouting!"

Jack proved that she was by kissing that pout right off of her lips. Finally, they both realized that the movie was over, and the end credits were playing. Jack pulled back and looked over Sam's shoulder, glanced at her, and then looked back towards the TV. He seemed to be waging some kind of inner battle, and Sam couldn't help the laugh that escaped her when she figured out what it was.

"You want to rewind the movie and watch the parts we missed, don't you?"

Jack managed a smile that was both sheepish and charming. "Yes, please."

Sam rearranged their positions and sat next to Jack on the couch once again, but this time she tucked herself into his side and draped an arm across his stomach. She handed him the remote and gestured for him to skip back to the last part they had been watching with her free hand.

"Go ahead," she encouraged. She did have a soft spot for _The Wizard of Oz_ , so it wasn't as if she minded watching the rest of the movie—especially since Jack would be staying the night.

"Has anyone ever told you how amazing you are?" Jack asked as he pressed a kiss to her cheek.

Sam blushed and laid her head against Jack's shoulder. His fingers were stroking up and down her own bare shoulder, and only thirty seconds passed before Jack said her name. She lifted her head and looked at him questioningly, and was surprised to find him holding her previously discarded t-shirt out back towards her.

"Can you put this back on?" Jack asked.

Sam took the shirt from him and pulled it over her head. "Do you mind if I ask why?" she asked in amusement.

Jack eyed her as she settled against his side again. "That hot little tank top was a little too distracting," he mumbled.

* * *

 **twenty-four.**

Sam was a total bed hog and Jack had a habit of kicking the blankets off of the bed, but it was still somehow the best sleep that either of them had had in a long time.

Sam woke to the feel of calloused fingers tracing up and down her back. They lingered on the razorback straps of her tank top, and she smiled into the pillow tucked under her head; she remembered the comment Jack had made to her about little tank tops the night before, after all. His fingers trailed down to the small of her back, paused, and then his hand slipped under her tank top, his palm spreading across the naked skin of her back.

"You're awake," he murmured in her ear.

Her smile widening, Sam rolled onto her side to face Jack. He had his head propped up on his free hand, and the blankets were around his waist, putting his bare chest on glorious display. Still half-asleep, Sam allowed herself to openly admire the tan skin that stretched across his broad chest and she reached out, pressing the pads of her fingers over his heart.

"You checking me out?" Jack teased.

"Maybe," Sam hedged. She tilted her face up then, and Jack took the hint. He leaned down, pressing his lips to hers.

Maybe he had intended for the kiss to be gentle—simply an early morning greeting, nothing more. Something passed between the, when their lips touched, though. It was like an electric current, and it had a domino effect. With that single touch of his lips against hers, it started a chain reaction that they were both helpless to stop… and neither of them wanted to.

Their hands were everywhere, lips following as they tugged articles of clothes from each other's bodies. Neither of them were wearing much; Jack only had on his boxers, and Sam was wearing a thin tank top and sleeping shorts. The feel of their bare skin brushing against each other as they removed their clothes was tantalizing and only served to heighten their passion.

When their clothes were removed entirely, Jack lifted himself over Sam and ran his hands reverently over every inch of her body. She arched underneath him, rocking her hips into his as she offered her body to him.

Jack's mouth followed his hands and when he reached her breasts, Sam moaned his name and wound her fingers into his hair. Jack groaned his approval when she tugged at his hair, and he worked magic with his lips. Eventually he moved further down, dipping his tongue briefly into her bellybutton, making Sam gasp once again. She felt him smile against her stomach, and then his lips were on her hip, where he nipped playfully.

Sam knew exactly which direction he was headed, and while she very much wanted him to get there, she had other things on her mind. She needed him now, and she wasn't willing to wait much longer. She tugged on his hair again, pulling on his shoulders as she guided his body back on top of hers.

She kissed him hotly, cradling his hips between her thighs, and when he pressed into her, they both moaned. It started out slow, with easy, measured thrusts as they both tried to take their time and make it last as long as possible. It didn't last, though. When Sam locked her legs around Jack's waist and he palmed her breast, their movements quickened until there was nothing holding them back.

Sam went over the edge first, and Jack followed quickly. He collapsed at her side and Sam pressed her hands to his chest, felling his heart thud under her fingers as they both got control of their breathing. Jack tugged her into his arms then, pulling her against his chest.

"Um. Wow," Sam finally managed.

Jack chuckled, deep in his chest. He hugged Sam a bit more tightly to him, and he pressed a kiss to the top of her head.

* * *

Jack made her breakfast again.

This time, the rest of his team wasn't around to get in his way in the kitchen, so he was free to make his famous French toast and some bacon. Sam had been taking a shower (by herself, against her protests, but Jack had insisted on making her breakfast), and she had been extremely thankful when she had come down the stairs to find that he had already brewed a pot of coffee.

Even though it was the weekend, both Sam and Jack had been surprised that they had slept until almost ten o'clock. They were getting a rather late start to their day, and as a result—coupled with their morning activities—they were both completely ravenous.

"This smells amazing," Sam told him as she peeked over his shoulder. She rested her chin on his shoulder lightly, and she smiled broadly when Jack took her hands in his and wrapped them around his waist. She had no idea that Jack O'Neill could be so affectionate, but she honestly wasn't that surprised. He kept many parts of himself well-hidden from those who didn't know him, and Sam was thankful that she was getting to see this side of him.

Jack grinned at her over his shoulder. "It's my specialty."

"What's in it?"

"You know, the usual stuff. Eggs, cinnamon… a secret ingredient or two."

"Tell me. Please."

"Can't. That's why it's called a _secret_ ingredient."

Sam narrowed her eyes at him before she looked at her kitchen counter, trying to see if he left something out that would give her a hint. He had hidden it well, so she almost missed it. But she saw it, hiding behind her coffee maker and partially obscured on the side by a loaf of bread.

"Jack."

"Yes, Sam?"

"Did you put… _beer_ in the batter for the French toast?"

"Uh…"

Sam pulled the bottle of beer out from behind her coffee maker and gave him a pointed look. Jack just smiled winningly at her, and she could only shake her head and kiss his cheek. And later on, as she was eating, she was amazed to find that the French toast tasted absolutely delicious. Not that she would tell him that.

* * *

 **twenty-five.**

Sam perused the cartons of Chinese food spread out on Jack's coffee table and finally selected a carton of lo mein. She grabbed a pair of chopsticks and dipped them into the carton, eating directly out of it. Kawalsky appeared next to her, and he was in the middle of transferring half an egg roll into his mouth. He set his beer on the table, offered one to Sam, and then grabbed a carton of sweet and sour chicken.

Kawalsky ate directly from the carton with his fingers. Sam arched an eyebrow and pointedly used her chopsticks once again. Kawalsky wrinkled his nose at her and took another piece of chicken out with his fingers.

"What? I'm a grown man. I can eat what I want, however I want."

Sam smiled at that. "You better not let Janet see you eating out of the carton with your fingers."

Kawalsky paused, thought about it for a second, and then reached for another set of chopsticks. He was mumbling under his breath the entire time, but the wrath of Janet Frasier proved to be enough to get him to behave at least a little bit.

Before Sam could continue to tease him, Kawalsky suddenly asked, "So, has Jack made you his breakfast with beer yet?"

Sam's mouth opened and closed as she struggled to find something to say. Finally, she said, "…Is that something that he does often?"

Kawalsky snorted. "Yeah, if often means he does it for nearly every team night we've ever had. It's like some kind of weird initiation for Jack. Once he makes you his breakfast with his 'secret ingredient'"–Kawalsky used finger quotes around those words—"it's like your officially one of his people."

"One of his people," Sam repeated fondly. She smiled stupidly into her carton of lo mein, and of course Kawalsky saw it.

"Wooow." Kawalsky was grinning, and he looked too smugly amused for his own good. "You've got it bad, don't you?"

Sam clamped her mouth shut and pressed her lips together. She could feel her cheeks heating up, but Kawalsky continued to stare at her with that dumb grin on his face. Sam lasted for a grand total of thirty seconds before she couldn't stand the staring and finally had to say something.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Sam finally mumbled.

"Yes you do," Kawalsky pressed. "You know exactly what I'm talking about." At the glare Sam gave him, Kawalsky held his hands up. "Okay, fine. We don't have to talk about it right now. But I just wanted to let you know… you're probably the best thing that's happened to Jack in a long time."

Sam gaped at him, blinking spastically a few times. Of all the things that Kawalsky could have said to her, that was the last thing she had expected. "Kawalsky, I… What?"

"You heard me."

"No, I did, but… what?"

Kawalsky patted Sam's hand, as if he knew something that she didn't know. "We're just happy that you came into our lives. That's all."

"What, for Jack?" Sam was still trying to get a grip on what Kawalsky had told her, and her normally quick mind was having trouble coming to terms with what she had just learned.

"Well yeah, sure," Kawalsky said with a laugh. "But I meant for all of us. You've saved our asses more times than we can count already."

Sam smiled gratefully at her friend, but was saved from having to say anything by the entrance of the rest of SG-1 and Janet. They descended upon the rest of the food left on the table, and suddenly Sam had both Jack and Janet on either side of her, trying to get into her carton of lo mein.

Sam allowed both of them to snag a bite of her noodles. When Jack tried to dip his chopsticks in there again, Sam slapped his hand away. "My lo mein," she told him resolutely.

"What?" Jack was giving her that look that was as close to pouting as he ever got. "It's not my fault that _someone_ ," Jack glared pointedly at Kawalsky, "ordered only one carton of lo mein!"

"Sam is the only one who actually eats it," Kawalsky pointed out with an unapologetic shrug of his shoulders.

"It's true," Daniel said around a mouthful of fried rice. "I don't like lo mein. You don't either, right, Teal'c?" The Jaffa in question nodded his head, and Daniel jammed half a dumpling into his mouth as he turned back to Jack. "See?"

Jack glared at his so-called best friend. "Whose side are you on, anyway?"

"Your new girlfriend's side!" Kawalsky exclaimed loudly.

The room grew completely silent as Sam and Jack stared at one another. Once again, Sam could feel her cheeks heating up, and Jack looked particularly uncomfortable. One beat of silence passed, and then another, and it continued to stretch as the rest of SG-1 and Janet looked back and forth between them.

Surprisingly, it was Jack who finally broke the ice. He smiled and shrugged his shoulders, almost as if to say, "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em." Sam relaxed as well, returning his smile. She held out her carton of her lo mein, and Jack dipped his chopsticks into it.

Naturally, Daniel was the one who started talking again. The rest of the conversation resumed, and SG-1's regularly scheduled team night returned to normal.

* * *

 **I'm sorry for the later than usual update. I had a serious bout of strep throat about two weeks ago that laid me up for four days, and we just finished up a big project at work this week. Thanks for reading, and please let me know what you think!**


	8. you make a fool of death

**So how did we feel about the fluffy, M-rated stuff last chapter? We'll get back into the action, in this chapter and the next for sure. I'm trying to keep a balance between the fluffiness and the action/fighting/techy stuff. I am, admittedly, a giant sap and like to write about the gooey romantic stuff, but I know that that's not everyone's thing.**

 **Once again, thank you very much to everyone that reviewed, added a favorite or an alert to this story. :)**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own anything. The chapter title comes from the song "High as Hope" by Florence + The Machine.**

* * *

 **twenty-six.**

"Can I ask you something?"

"What?"

"When we met four years ago, did you ever think that we'd be going on a double date?"

If anyone besides Daniel had asked that question, Jack probably would have hit them. But it was Daniel, and he was being serious. Jack took another sip of his beer and really thought about Daniel's query for a long moment; Janet had gone to the bathroom, and Sam had stepped out of the bar to take a call from one of her assistants, so the men had a few moments to themselves.

"No," Jack said honestly. He had been a different person four years ago; an angry person, bitter and unwilling to accept anything or anyone that could make a bit of difference in his life. Sarah had tried, of course. Even though they had been in the middle of separating, she had never really blamed him for the horrible accident that was their son's death, and had tried to help Jack as best as she could. Jack had pushed her away just as he had done with everyone else, and Sarah had eventually moved on with her life.

Jack had been a man ready to die when he had been contacted about that first mission through the Stargate. He thought he was done, had believed that he was ready for it—but the truth was, he hadn't been prepared for a single thing. He hadn't been ready for what it felt like when he was with Kawalsky and the rest of his old team again; he hadn't been ready for Daniel Jackson and the way he had made him rethink everything; he hadn't been prepared for Abydos in the slightest, and he certainly hadn't been prepared for the way the people on that planet had touched the heart that he thought had died with his son.

Jack could honestly say that he liked the man he was now, and he would even go so far as to say that he was… happy. From the way that Daniel was watching him with an obnoxious smile on his face, Jack had a feeling that his friend knew exactly what he was thinking.

"This is good for you, Jack," Daniel told him.

"Shut up, Daniel," Jack retorted automatically. There was no real malice in his words, however, and Daniel's smile only grew wider.

Janet and Sam were headed back to their high top table then, so that conversation quickly came to an end. It seemed that Janet had stopped by the bar on her way back from the bathroom, since she had a fresh round of drinks for all of them. Sam eyed her best friend warily but took the mixed drink from Janet without comment.

"We should play pool!" Janet suddenly exclaimed.

Daniel snorted into his drink while Sam openly laughed. "Jan, you suck at pool," Sam reminded the doctor.

"So?" Janet shrugged, unconcerned. "Just because I'm not good at it doesn't mean I can't play. Plus, Daniel is actually pretty good."

It was true. Daniel was some kind of bar room game savant, and excelled at just about anything he played, whether it was pool or the dart boards. But Sam had been playing pool since she had been old enough for her father to teach her, and she had science on her side; pool was all about angles, after all.

Jack, of course, had no way of knowing just how good Sam was at pool, but he was familiar with how Janet played. He smirked and shared a look with Daniel, who was still busy trying not to laugh outright at his girlfriend (given that he knew it wouldn't end well).

Janet got that look in her eyes—the one where she was about to bring the pain, whether it be by sharp needles or other, sneakier ways. Sam crossed her arms over her chest and narrowed her eyes at the men before she nudged Janet in the shoulder.

"How about a little bet, then?" Sam asked. "Girls against boys. Losers buy dinner."

It was a small bet, sure, but Daniel was good at pool, and Jack had been playing for years in bars, since before he had even joined the Air Force. Plus, he liked that challenging glint in Sam's eyes, and he knew that no matter how this game of pool turned out, they would both be winners in the end.

"Sure." Jack shrugged his shoulders and grabbed a few pool sticks. Sam racked the balls, waited until everyone got settled, and then expertly broke them. She leaned back and looked at Jack with a raised brow, the challenging gleam brighter than ever in her eyes.

Jack let out a low whistle. Even though he was impressed, he was still fairly confident that he and Daniel had this game in the bag. Sam might be good, but he didn't think that she would be good enough to carry the team with the way that Janet typically played.

Twenty minutes later, Jack had to admit that he had been very, _very_ wrong. Sam _was_ that good, probably even better than that. Janet seemed to be having a stroke of luck as well, since she wasn't playing as horribly as she normally did. Daniel was watching it all unfold with a look of sheer amusement on his face, as if he wasn't surprised that this little match was unfolding the way that it was.

Jack could see Sam eyeing the left corner pocket, biting her lip as she thought about how to make the shot. She tucked her hair behind her ears, looking a little unsure. Jack was unable to resist commenting.

"You know, that doesn't seem like the easiest shot to make," Jack said casually.

Sam looked up at him then, her eyes flashing. She smirked deviously at him, and then easily made the shot. Jack watched the ball sink into the left corner pocket, his eyes wide and his mouth round.

Janet was cackling the entire time, and Jack knew he was screwed.

* * *

The men were gracious losers, and Sam and Janet only gloated a little bit. They were standing by the bar, having another round of drinks, while Janet and Daniel debated on whether or not they should stay. The bar was quickly filling up with a much younger crowd, with lots of twenty-somethings moving around as they waited for the band to start up.

"Do you want to stay and listen to the music?" Jack asked. He was watching her with knowing eyes, as if he could already tell exactly what Sam was going to say.

Sam glanced at where the band was setting up on the stage near the front of the bar and bit her lip as she thought about what to do next. She did like live music, but the floor of the bar was already filled with people shoulder to shoulder. The only reason the four of them had seats at the bar was because they had been there so early, but even those spots were getting too crowded, given the people that were jostling them as they tried to order drinks from the bartenders.

She liked live music and she certainly wouldn't mind staying out longer, but the bar was getting too crowded for the level that they were currently at. Maybe if they had three more drinks, the girls could have convinced the guys to stay. But they hadn't, and all Sam really wanted to do was go home with Jack and spend the rest of the night in. She could think of much better things that they could be doing, anyway.

"Let's finish these drinks," Sam suggested. "Then we can head out." They had just ordered a new round, so it would be at least another twenty minutes before they could leave, anyway. There was no way that Sam was going to let this beer go to waste, and she knew that this next drink would put Daniel and Janet into their amusedly buzzed phase. Jack was the one who drove, so they had to drop Daniel and Janet off anyway.

Jack grinned at her while Janet and Daniel enthusiastically agreed with the plan. "Sounds good."

Half an hour later, Sam and Jack stumbled through her front door. They had dropped Daniel and Janet off at Janet's place, and Sam's house was closer than Jack's. At that point, they were just looking for convenience more than anything else. There had been several stolen kisses at red lights, and Jack had kept his hand high up on Sam's thigh then entire ride back from the bar.

"It was a good night," Sam breathed as she struggled with the buttons on the front of Jack's shirt. Becoming thoroughly impatient, she grasped the collar, tugging until the shit came apart and buttons popped off. Sighing happily, Sam ran her hands over the hard planes of Jack's chest.

Jack was busy too, with his mouth at her neck as his hands wreaked havoc over the skin under her own blouse. She raised her arms over her head, allowing Jack to tug her shirt off. They were in her living room now, but at the rate they were going, Sam wasn't sure that they would actually make it to the bedroom.

"It really was," Jack murmured against her neck. He bit down on where her pulse was throbbing before he threaded his fingers through her hair, tilted her head back, and kissed her hard. Sam moaned and practically melted against Jack, and then giggled as his fingers ghosted over her ribs, tickling her.

Of course, Jack chuckled and did it again, making Sam gasp and push against his chest. They fell back on the couch and continued to pull off each other's clothes until it was just skin against skin, and even then, Jack continued to find all of her ticklish spots.

Eventually, Jack stopped chuckling at Sam's uncontrollable giggles when she pushed him back on the couch and straddled him. There wasn't much talking after that.

* * *

 **twenty-seven.**

"Jack O'Neill, what do you think you're doing?"

"What?" Jack looked at her innocently, even as he continued to inch Sam's shorts and underwear down her legs. "I'm not doing anything."

"Sure you're not." Even so, Sam lifted her hips, allowing Jack to strip her shorts off. Her tank top soon followed, and before Sam could get completely distracted, she said, "You know, I've never been late for work before."

"Yes you were," Jack reminded her. His hand disappeared between her legs. "During the whole foothold situation, remember?"

Sam bit back a moan, even as she parted her thighs to accommodate Jack's hand. "Yeah, but that…" Her breath caught. "That was probably a… good thing."

"That's right," Jack murmured as he pressed open-mouthed kisses to her neck. "You saved our asses. His fingers quickened, stroking harder. "I don't think I properly thanked you for that."

Sam's hips rolled against his hand. "I'm open to you…" She gasped, gripping the sheets on either side of her body. "…rectifying that."

"Now?" Jack asked, his fingers teasing.

"Yes, now!" Sam looped her arms around Jack's neck and dragged his mouth down to hers, pressing a hard to kiss to his lips. "Come on, Jack, stop teasing. _Please._ "

Jack groaned and kissed her again as he twisted his hand and moved his fingers faster. His thumb pressed against her most sensitive part. She came against his fingers, and Jack pressed kisses against her jaw and down her neck.

Sam panted, running her hands up and down Jack's well muscled back. "More," she breathed.

Jack smirked against her neck. "More?"

"I need you. Now."

Her hands were on him then, her mouth biting down on his shoulder. Jack rolled over onto his back and Sam climbed over his body. She stroked over his smooth, warm skin and her lips followed. Every now and then, she would linger on one of the many scars that littered his body. Jack wasn't quite willing to put a name to how that made him feel just yet—thankfully, he was sufficiently distracted when Sam swung a leg over his hips and sank down on him.

It started out slow as Sam got worked up again, but then it quickly spiraled from there. She liked the feel of Jack's strong hands on her hips, the way those hands would stroke up her body and palm her breasts. When she went over the edge, Jack followed soon after. Sam collapsed onto his chest and closed her eyes, pressing her nose into his shoulder as she inhaled deeply.

"If we're late, I'm telling General Hammond that it's your fault," Sam murmured.

Jack chuckled as his hands stroked over her back. "Something tells me that you don't want General Hammond knowing exactly what we were doing to make us late. If we are late, that is."

"Of course not." Sam snorted and pressed a kiss to Jack's chest before she rolled off of him and climbed out of bed. "I'd lie to him. If anyone asks, we got held up getting coffee because you couldn't decide what to get."

Jack folded his arms behind his head, reclining back on the bed. Clearly, he wasn't as concerned as Sam was about getting to work on time. Normally, he would be, but at this point, he was more than a little pleased that he had an actual reason to be late. Plus, he figured that after saving the world a few times, he was allowed to be late every now and then.

"What makes you so sure that General Hammond would believe you over me, anyway?" Jack called as Sam disappeared into the bathroom.

Sam poked her head and smirked at him, and damn it if that didn't just turn him on all over again. "Because he likes me better than you. Obviously."

Jack thought about that for a moment and decided that it was probably more true than not—not that he would ever admit that to her. And then he decided that it would really be a waste for Sam to shower alone… plus, conserving water was important, right?

* * *

When Daniel entered Sam's lab, he wasn't surprised to find that she wasn't alone. Jack was holding a coffee cup from Karen's Café, and he kept glancing at the blast doors, as if expecting someone to appear. He grinned at his friend, knowing full well why Jack was apprehensive.

"Hey, Sam," Daniel greeted instead of commenting directly on Jack's presence in Sam's lab. "I was gathering a few reports of archeological finds from other SG teams when General Hammond asked me to deliver this to you." He handed Sam a file folder and she opened it immediately, flipping through the contents. Daniel couldn't resist a sideways glance at Jack as he said, "He knows that you were both late today, by the way."

"Damn it," Jack cursed under his breath. Sam, who was clearly listening to their conversation even though she was reading the file, smiled.

"That explains why you're hiding out in Sam's lab," Daniel continued.

"I'm not hiding out!"

"Oh really? What are you doing, then?"

Before Daniel could answer, Sam gasped loudly and started to do a little dance where she was standing. Both Daniel and Jack turned to her with twin looks of confusion on their faces, and Sam took a brief moment to wonder how often they made those faces together. She had seen it many times over the year plus that she had known them, and it was pretty funny every time she saw it.

Jack gestured at Sam. "What's the dancing for?"

"I wasn't dancing," Sam denied immediately, even though she most definitely had been. Before Jack could start arguing with her again, Sam opened the report and scanned the details. "We're going to officially test the Naquadah reactor!" She hopped in place again, unable to contain her excitement. "The experiment was approved! We're bringing it to the Alpha Site to test it out! We leave in three days!"

Already, Sam was running through calculations and possible scenarios in her mind; not to mention her packing list. Going to the Alpha Site would be nothing like when she spent that night off world on Avnil. There was an actual base set up there, where she would have real quarters. There was so much to consider, and Sam reached for the nearest notepad and pen so that she could start a rough draft of her checklist.

"How long would the testing be?" Jack asked. A small smile of amusement was on his lips, and Jack was once again struck by how he was thinking of Sam as adorable… and how much he liked it.

"Two weeks," Sam answered distractedly as she looked around her lab, mentally cataloging everything she saw. The Alpha Site already had labs set up, but there were a few things that she would definitely need to bring from her own lab.

"And we leave in three days?" Jack continued. While he wasn't too thrilled about spending two weeks on the Alpha Site doing basically nothing while Sam tested her doohickey, he had to admit that he was looking forward to really seeing her in her element.

"Uh…" Daniel coughed then, and he cleared his throat. He glanced at Sam, who was barely paying any attention to the conversation anymore. Her mind was clearly going a million miles a minute, and she was already digging through one of the cabinets at the back of her lab. She would obviously be no help.

Jack knew that tone of voice. Coupled with the look on Daniel's face, it generally meant that Jack was about to hear something he wasn't going to like. "Daniel…"

"Jack," Daniel responded, trying to stall for time.

"Daniel."

"Jack."

"Damn it, Daniel!"

That exclamation caught Sam's attention, and she pulled back from the cabinet with one of the large wrenches that Siler kept stashed everywhere in her hands. She tossed the two men a concerned look. "Guys?"

Daniel rubbed the back of his neck. "Here's the thing… We're not going to the Alpha Site."

"What?" Sam scrambled back across the lab and snatched up the briefing report that Daniel had delivered. "But this says—"

"No, Sam," Daniel interrupted. Even though his words were directed at the blonde astrophysicist, his eyes were on Jack. " _You're_ going to the Alpha Site. _We_ , as in SG-1, are not."

"Oh." Sam grew quiet and scanned the report once again, looking for the SG team that would be taking her and another handful of scientists from her department to the Alpha Site. Meanwhile, Daniel was still watching Jack carefully for his reaction.

"The same day that they leave, we're being sent on a diplomatic mission to P2X-740," Daniel said. "They have stores of Naquadah on the planet, and Hammond wants us to get a trade agreement." He knew that Jack wasn't exactly keen on sending Sam off world without him and the rest of SG-1 as backup—hell, it wasn't sitting with Daniel, either, and he knew that Kawalsky and Teal'c felt the same way. But they were the best team for a mission like this, especially with how excellent Daniel was at negotiating agreements.

"Having that Naquadah would really help," Sam said gently, her eyes on Jack as well. She slid a hand over Jack's forearm and squeezed. "Especially if the experiment goes well. We would need to start building more reactors…"

Jack sighed. "And you would need that Naquadah from 740 to build those reactors. I got it. What team are they sending with you, anyway?"

Sam checked the file again. "SG-13."

Jack thought about that for several moments, and his shoulders relaxed slightly. "They're a good team. Dixon is a decent guy, and Bosworth and Wells are easy to get along with." Jack would know, since after training the two airmen, he had been the one to recommend them for SG-13. "Plus, you'll get along with their geek. He's… something that starts with a B."

"Balinsky," Daniel supplied helpfully, even though he knew that Jack fully knew exactly who was on SG-13. Hell, Jack probably knew the name of every active SG team member, plus the names of their family members.

"Right." Jack turned back to Sam. "You'll be in good hands with them."

Sam was getting a look in her eyes that Jack was quite familiar with now, and it was a look that he liked very much. Still, he hadn't forgotten about the presence of one very nosey archeologist, and Jack looked over at him, he was a little perturbed at how surprised Daniel looked. Daniel, for his part, had never seen Jack capitulate so easily, and he was _not_ surprised to see Jack scowl at him.

"What?" Jack snapped at Daniel. "I can do math. One plus one equals two. Treaty plus Naquadah equals happy Sam."

Sam smiled brightly at Jack and squeezed his arm once again. She very much would have liked to have kissed him, but even though they had already made out at the SGC a few times, Sam wasn't about to do it with Daniel standing right there.

Jack grinned at her as if he knew exactly what she was thinking about. And he probably did, that bastard.

* * *

 **twenty-eight.**

SG-1 was scheduled to leave an hour before Sam and SG-13. So that was how Sam found herself with Jack outside the hallway to the Gateroom (it was suspiciously empty—Sam had a feeling Teal'c and Kawalsky had something to do with that).

Jack was watching her, his amber eyes just a little guarded, and Sam brushed her fingers against his. They were both all geared up, all ready and prepped for their respective missions. Sam could see the way his shoulders were tensed and knew that her own mirrored his; neither of them were thrilled about the fact that they were going off world separately, but it was something that they had to live with. They had been lucky before, but Sam had known the time she would be sent through the Stargate with another team would be coming, and she was sure that Jack had come to the same realization as well.

"It's going to be fine," Sam murmured finally. Despite all of the rationalization, Sam found that she wanted to reassure Jack. She knew that he was pragmatic and serious when it came to his own missions, but the fact that he was letting her see just how uneasy he was with this whole plan let her know just how much he cared about her.

"Famous last words," Jack told her. His voice was deceptively casual, but his eyes were serious.

"Come on." Reaching forward, Sam wrapped her fingers around Jack's forearm. Even through the material of his thick BDUs, Sam could still feel his strength. "It's just a science experiment at the Alpha Site. What could go wrong?"

Jack shot her a skeptical look. "Do you know how many times Daniel has told me that exact thing, and then we ended up captured or getting shot at? Or both?"

Sam had read the mission reports, so she knew just how many times on of Daniel's peaceful, diplomatic missions had turned into some big, dramatic deal for SG-1. Still, she couldn't help the laugh that escaped her as she glanced around, double checking to make sure that no one was going to come down the hallway. Assured that the coast was clear, Sam stepped forward and wrapped her arms around Jack's neck, pressing her body against his.

"I'm just testing the Naquadah reactor," Sam reminded him. "It's on a nice planet with friendly locals. The Alpha Site has been set up there for the last five months, you know."

"Yeah, I know," Jack grumbled. Still, his hands settled on Sam's hips, and his fingers squeezed affectionately. "I'm just saying."

"It's two weeks," Sam said. She knew that she was pushing her luck with still being wrapped up in Jack's arms while standing in the hallway outside of the Gate Room, but she couldn't bring herself to pull away. Besides, she knew that Kawalsky and Daniel had probably devised some way to give Sam and Jack as long as they needed in that hallway. Plus, there was much to be said for Teal'c's intimidation stare.

"A lot can happen in two weeks."

Sam frowned at him. "Are you really that determined to be negative?"

Jack sighed and slid his arms fully around Sam's waist, pressing their bodies that much closer together. "I'm sorry," he said. "I just… I know what it's like out there. And even though I talked to Dixon and the rest of SG-13, I just need you to know… even the Alpha Site isn't perfectly safe."

Sam heard what Jack was telling her and tucked it into the back of her mind. There was something else that she needed to address at that particular moment, however. "You _talked_ to SG-13?" Sam repeated. "What, exactly, did you say to them?"

"It wasn't just me!" Jack exclaimed immediately. He dropped a quick kiss to Sam's lips, in the hopes that it would placate her. "The rest of my team was there, you know."

Sam huffed, but in truth, she wasn't really that upset that SG-1 had talked to SG-13 on her behalf. She was touched, knowing that those men cared about her enough to ensure her safety with another team. Sam had proven herself more than once since coming to the SGC, but it was a true hallmark of friendship and family to have people that ensured safety no matter what. Sam appreciated that, and she hoped she conveyed it through the way her expression softened.

"You guys are sweet," Sam told him as her fingers threaded through the hair at the nape of Jack's neck.

Of course, Jack grumbled at that. "We are not sweet. We are men, Sam, and we—"

Sam cut him off when she pressed her lips against his. It was quite an effective way to end his little diatribe, and Sam was gratified when Jack's grip tightened on her waist and his mouth opened under his.

"You're ruining the SGC for me, you know," Jack said once they broke apart.

"Oh?" Sam arched an eyebrow. "Really?"

"Really," Jack confirmed. "We can't go around, kissing everywhere, you know."

"I'm pretty sure that you're the one that's done most of the kissing."

Jack gasped in mock outrage, and it made Sam laugh. "That is a lie, and you know it! Who was the one who cornered me in the weight room a couple of weeks ago?"

"And who was the one who cornered _me_ in my lab?" Sam countered. "You started it!"

Jack grinned at her, and he had no hesitation as he rubbed his thumbs over the sensitive spot at the small of Sam's back. Clearly, he knew that his teammates would keep the hallway clear for as long as Jack pleased. "Worth it," he murmured.

Sam kissed him again for that comment alone, because he was just being so damn cute. She knew that Jack would never admit to being cute, but Sam was content in the fact that she had the knowledge to herself. She was aware that the gossip mill at the SGC was already churning with rumors about her relationship with Jack, but she was happy with knowing that this, and this moment between them, was their own.

"We have to get going," Jack said once they broke apart.

Sam sighed and hugged Jack tightly. He wasn't the only one apprehensive about going off world. Sam knew that she couldn't offer the same protection that he could to her, but she was aware of SG-1's tendency to get in precarious situations while on other planets. The likelihood of that happening again was high, and Sam wasn't exactly thrilled about the fact that she would be isolated on the Alpha Site for two weeks.

"You have to be safe too, you know," she finally said as he poked Jack in the chest.

He gave her a crooked half smile. "I know."

Sam huffed at Jack's casual dismissal of her directive. "I'm just going to have to remind Teal'c to bring you back in one piece. He's the only one who takes me seriously."

"That's not true, and you know it." Jack caught Sam's hand and tugged her towards him again. "We have a good a track record. You… well, you're just going to have to listen to Dixon, that's all."

Sam made a noise of annoyance in the back of her throat, but she didn't protest when Jack pressed a quick, hard kiss to her lips. She was panting slightly when he finally let her up for air, but she just squeezed his hand and followed him into the Gate Room.

The rest of SG-1 was waiting patiently at the foot of the ramp, along with General Hammond. Kawalsky, Teal'c, and Daniel were totally casual as they smiled at their tardy team leader and his scientist, even though they were the ones who had orchestrated the empty hallway for Sam and Jack. General Hammond just arched an eyebrow at them, but he said nothing. The Stargate was already activated, waiting for them to step through.

Sam smiled brightly at the team, but her eyes lingered on Jack for just an extra second. "I'll see you guys in two weeks."

Daniel hugged her around the shoulders, Kawalsky saluted her, and Teal'c inclined his head. Jack smiled at her—a real, actual smile—and then they walked up the ramp.

* * *

"Hey, Dr. Carter." Colonel David Dixon gave Sam a friendly smile as she stepped into the Gateroom, all geared up and ready to go. "Welcome to SG-13. Don't hold these goons against me, okay?"

"Hey!" A younger man with a messy mop of blonde hair looked up from where he was checking his weapon. "I resent that!"

"Shut up, Bosworth," Dixon chided in a good-natured voice. "Dr. Carter, meet Senior Airman Jake Bosworth, Senior Airman Simon Wells, and Dr. Cameron Balinsky."

"It's an honor to work with you, Dr. Carter," Balinsky rushed out as he strode forward and shook Sam's hand enthusiastically. "Your work is incredible, really, it is."

Dixon and Wells rolled their eyes at the same time, while Bosworth laughed outright. Sam blinked in surprise and then smiled, returning Balinsky's handshake. The men SG-13 kind of reminded her of SG-1—they had an easy camaraderie with each other, and it was clear that they took their jobs very seriously and cared about what they were doing. It was great to get the chance to work with people like that, and Sam was lucky to have found it with another team, as well as SG-1.

"Thanks, Dr. Balinsky," Sam said once the red-headed man released her hand. "I'm not really sure how true all of that is, but thank you."

Dixon grinned as the Stargate spun to life behind them. "This is going to be fun."

* * *

 **twenty-nine.**

"Welcome to P3X-382," Dixon said once they had all made it through the Stargate. "Otherwise known as Nasya to the locals."

Sam looked around as she took a deep breath of the clean, fresh air. The village was situated next to a stream, and it seemed that the Stargate was set up in the village center. There were a few modestly made but sturdy-looking buildings surrounding them—Sam presumed that those were some kind of municipal buildings, like a town hall of some sort. Dirt roads stretched out around them to houses and farms and gardens. Carts with horses attached moved around them, and children ran through the village. Clearly, this was a safe place, and Sam felt at ease knowing this was where the Alpha Site was.

"There seem to be small villages like this nearby, but they're not on top of each other," Dixon explained as they began the mile-long walk to the building the SGC had set up for the Alpha Site. "They've been free of Goa'uld rule for some time, and were willing to allow us to set up here and study some of the new metals we found in exchange for some medicine and first-aid supplies. It seems like the perfect place for the Alpha Site."

"It really does," Sam agreed. It was almost idyllic. Sam could have sworn she was wandering through some kind of fairytale forest. The effect of the charming trees and flowers and twittering birds wasn't even ruined by the SG team flanking her, carrying P-90s.

"The history of the planet is actually quite fascinating," Balinsky began as they walked. "The planet was originally ruled by Nirrti. We've seen her around once or twice out in the galaxy, and she's a nasty piece of work. But she abandoned the planet for some reason seventy-five years ago…"

Sam half-listened to Balinsky's chatter as they walked. She had read all about the planet's history in the report before they left, after all. While they didn't know the exact reason that Nirrti left, the important thing was that she had been gone for a long time. They were at the Alpha Site before long, and Sam waited while Dixon chatted with one of the SFs stationed there. She only lasted about two minutes before she couldn't take it any longer. Breaking off from SG-13, Sam wound through the hallways before she finally came upon her temporary lab.

Her staff was good—everything, including the equipment she had packed away herself, was already set up. The Naquadah reactor was in the middle of the room, with last minute tests and diagnostics being run on it.

Sam could barely contain her excitement. She had spent nearly a year on this project, and she was thrilled that they were finally going to be able to test it out. If it worked, they would have a sustainable power source that could easily be taken off world. The implications of that were huge, and Sam knew that there was a lot riding on this project.

As soon as she was spotted, three different scientists descended upon her, all talking at the same time. Sam sighed but managed to keep a pleasant look on her face as they babbled about statistics and adjustments. Just when her staff took a collective breath, gearing up to start again, they were interrupted by the voice of Dixon.

"I should have known that you would have gone straight to the labs," Dixon said in amusement. "Jack warned me about this."

"Did he, now?" Sam narrowed her eyes. "And what else did he _warn you_ about?"

Dixon just chuckled and held his hands up, clearly offering his surrender. Dr. Jacobson, seeing a chance to ask Sam about some of the test results he had gotten, opened his mouth once again. He closed it with an audible click when Wells shot him a look.

"She just got here," Wells pointed out. "We walked through the Stargate fifteen minutes ago. So how about we all just take a break for a minute?"

"I don't mind," Sam assured SG-13. Clearly, they were all taking their directive from SG-1 to keep her safe and happy very seriously. Sam had to admit that she was mildly annoyed about the whole thing, but she was really more amused than anything else. She made SG-1 deal with the way that she would work, after all. Sam would have no problem with showing SG-13 just how she worked.

"Give me fifteen minutes," Sam continued. "I'll answer their questions, and then I'll get settled in my quarters. The experiment doesn't officially start until tomorrow, anyway."

"Fine," Dixon said. "But I'm sending Bosworth to check to make sure that you're in your quarters in twenty minutes. You can't overwork yourself on the first day, Dr. Carter. Gate travel takes a lot out of you, especially on extended stays."

It was true. Sam knew the research, but having only been off world a couple of times, she had never experienced the toll that the off world time change could have on the body. Sam was mentally prepared for it, and being the scientist that she was, she had a whole plan in place anyway.

Sam waved her hand and turned back towards her team. "Fine, fine," she mumbled as she accepted a chart from one of her assistants.

* * *

A week passed, and Sam had to admit that she loved it at the Alpha Site. Nasya was a beautiful planet, and the people were kind and simple. They were great and helpful and very easy to get along with.

Sam was getting along fantastically with SG-13, as well. Dixon was a fair leader with a good sense of humor, and Wells and Bosworth reminded her of less insane versions of Kawalsky. Balinsky was like a puppy, eager to help and always excited, and Sam had to admit that he was very helpful in the lab.

The tests on the Naquadah reactor had been going very well. Yesterday, they had used it to power the whole lab, and it had worked for the entirety of the planet's twenty-seven hour long days. It was actually working, and in a couple more days, Sam knew that their results would be viable enough for them to take the reactor back to the SGC for official use.

SG-1 had returned to Earth from their own diplomatic mission two days ago, and they had been successful. Sam was now going to have more than enough Naquadah for all of the reactors that she would need. They were scheduled for a check in with the SGC in two days, and Sam knew that Jack and the rest of SG-1 were going to be there. She was pretty excited for that, she had to admit. SG-13 knew, too, and Wells had been teasing her about it for days. Sam let him, because she could tease him about how nervous he was over his pregnant wife.

Sam was sitting at a campfire near the town square, eating a not-totally disgusting MRE, when one of her assistants, Lieutenant Roberts, handed her a clipboard with the latest readings from the reactor. Sam scanned them and nodded her head in approval, handing them back to Roberts as she mentioned an adjustment that would be a good idea.

Bosworth sat next to her, already halfway through eating his own MRE. The man actually liked them, which was something that Sam would never be able to understand. "So, I hear that they're using the reactor to power the whole building tomorrow," he said. He nudged Sam's shoulder with his own. "You must be excited for that, right?"

"Of course I am!" Sam exclaimed quickly. "And it's going to work."

"How do you know?" Wells asked as he took a seat on the other side of her.

"Because I know," Sam stated. "And because the test results have conclusively revealed that the reactor should successfully keep the building powered for a full twenty-seven hours. Or would you like me to go into details for you?"

Of course, Dixon joined the group then. "Don't ask for details," he advised. "I did that two days ago and had to sit through a forty-five minute lecture on Gate physics." He wrinkled his nose. "And that was only because I asked how a wormhole worked."

"You asked!" Sam defended. "And I answered!" She thought about the time she had explained to Jack how a wormhole worked with an apple. It had been especially funny because she knew that Jack could have understood the explanation in much more complicated terms, but she had to admit that it was funny when General Hammond had walked in on her holding an apple while the entirety of SG-1 watched with rapt attention while she explained just how a wormhole worked.

"Wait." Now Balinsky was with them. "I want to know how a wormhole works. I'll sit through a forty-five minute lecture. I want to know!"

Sam laughed while Bosworth and Wells started to imitate their teammate. Science, a good team, and successful experiments? Sam had to admit that this was a damn good mission.

* * *

When Sam woke up, the world was on fire.

Smoke instantly made it difficult to breath, and Sam sat up as she coughed and struggled to catch her breath. She waved her hands in front of her eyes and reached over the side of the bed, pulling her boots on one-handed. She could hear shouting coming from the hall outside her room, and Sam knew that she had to move fast.

She spared a brief thought to be thankful for the fact that they had to sleep in their BDUs while off world, so that they would be ready in the event that anything happened. And then Dixon was in her room, shouting that they needed to leave, now, because there were Al'keshes dropping bombs on them as they spoke. She could hear the swoop of Death Gliders soaring overhead, and Sam knew that this was all very, very bad.

Bosworth, Wells, and Balinsky met them outside of the building. They had minutes, maybe, to get to the Stargate. Not only did they have to get the rest of the personnel out of the Alpha Site, along with any sensitive research, they had to do what they could for the people on Nasya. There was no way that they could just leave them there while they were being attacked by the Goa'uld.

"What can I do?" Sam asked. People were screaming and plenty were already hurt. The attack had only started minutes ago, and already the Goa'uld had wreaked havoc on the people of Nasya. The devastation wasn't complete yet, but it was going to be very soon.

"You can get your ass to the Stargate, is what you can do," Dixon ordered. "I already sent Lieutenant Roberts with the research on the reactor through the Gate. You need to go, now. Balinsky, you're going with her. Wells, cover them."

"But—" Sam started, but Wells cut her off when he grabbed her arm and started running.

They ran hard, in what probably had to be the fastest Sam had ever run a mile in her entire life. When they reached the town center, it seemed like only seconds had passed by. Once they were there, Sam could see that she had been wrong; the devastation was already complete.

People were screaming, shouting the names of their family members as they ran back and forth. Dixon had a sent a team forward as soon as he had known about the attack, and they were holding the Stargate open so they could evacuate as many people as possible.

Sam broke off from Wells and Balinsky when she saw a man bleeding out on the ground, with a woman screaming over him. After Sam had joined the SGC, she had taken a first-aid course at Janet's insistence, so that she could help out if she ever found herself in a situation like this. So Sam did a quick evaluation and immediately decided to start CPR.

"Dr. Carter, we can't wait!" Wells yelled as he grabbed her shoulders and tried to pull her away. "We need to get out of here!"

"I can save this man!" Sam yelled while she shoved him away. She looked towards the woman who was still sobbing about how this was her husband, and they needed to save him, because she would do anything if they could just save him. "Get her out of here!"

"Balinsky, get her and go!" Wells ordered. When Sam opened her mouth to protest, Wells shot her a look and then turned to provide her with cover. If she was going to insist on staying to help this man, than he damn well wasn't going to leave her there.

So Sam started performing chest compressions. She counted them out and then tilted his head back, leaning over to give him mouth to mouth. She did chest compressions after administering the proper amount of breaths, and then did mouth to mouth once again. Suddenly, there was a sharp pain at the back of her throat and Sam yanked herself back from the man.

The world became hazy for a moment, and Sam could have sworn that she was about to black out. She felt something wet on her mouth and then Wells was grabbing her shoulders, shaking her hard as he called her name.

"Dr. Carter! Can you hear me? Dr. Carter!"

"Yeah, yeah, I can hear you." Sam pushed waved Wells away and took a deep breath, trying to combat the sudden dizziness she was feeling.

"You're bleeding, Dr. Carter," Wells told her.

Sam wiped at her mouth with the back of her hand. Sure enough, it was blood. "He must have bitten his tongue before he died."

"He's dead?" Wells asked.

"Yes—" Sam began, but the conversation was over before she could finish that sentence. A small, metal orb rolled towards them, there was a bright flash of light, and then there was nothing at all.

* * *

 **thirty.**

Sam jerked awake and was alarmed to find out that she couldn't see.

She knew what it was, of course. It was a Tok'Kal, and she had read about it and knew just how it worked. The Goa'uld had used it on multiple SG teams, and she knew what the side effects were after the instance unconsciousness. Sam was aware that her vision would return soon, but that didn't make it any less terrifying.

"You'll be okay," a small voice said. An equally small hand touched her shoulder, and Sam knew that it must have been a child next to her. It had to have been a child that was just as scared as she was, if not more. Despite not knowing who was around her or even where she was, Sam knew that she needed to get a grip.

"I know," Sam said, proud that she was able to make her voice sound as even as possible. "My vision should return shortly. The side effects of the Tok'Kal are only temporary."

"Good," the little voice said.

"What about you?" Sam asked. "Can you see? Are you okay?"

"I can see," the little girl said. "We were captured by some Jaffa and they put us here. They didn't use a… a Tol… a Tak…"

"A Tok'Kal," Sam corrected gently.

"Right. They didn't use one."

They sat in silence for a few moments, with the little girl's hand still on her shoulder. Still not knowing where she was or where the rest of the SGC personnel was or what was going on, Sam took comfort in the human contact. Sam knew instinctively that they would be in this together, along with anyone else she found. There had to be a way that they were going to survive this; they made it through the attack on Nasya, after all.

"How old are you?" Sam asked.

"Six years old," the little girl answered.

Sam's heart broke. This little girl was only six years old, and she had already been captured by the Goa'uld. She was talking like she was much older than her six years, but Sam wasn't that surprised by that. Being a girl on a planet like Nasya, they were expected to help their families at a very young age.

Sam blinked, and she saw some light in her eyes. She closed them and rubbed at them, opened her eyes again; finally, she could see her surroundings. The familiar gold walls were a dead giveaway.

Sam had read the reports, had seen pictures—hell, she had even been on a Tel'tak that SG-1 had brought back once. Sam knew exactly what the inside of a Goa'uld ship looked like, because the gold, garish decoration was basically the same no matter where it was.

There was an uneasy swoop in her stomach, because not only did she have no idea who captured them, but there was no saying where they were headed. They could be anywhere at that point, but the only thing that Sam knew was that they were far from Nasya.

Sam's vision had returned enough for her to finally get a good look at the little girl that had been talking to her. She was small, delicate, with long red hair and an adorable little dress that was obviously handmade. It was hard to see such an innocent little girl so out of place on what Sam suspected was a Goa'uld Ha'tak, and it only added to her uneasiness.

"What's your name?" Sam asked now that she could see her.

"Cassandra," the little girl answered.

Sam smiled kindly at her. "I'm Sam."

To Sam's surprise, Cassandra smiled. "Hi, Sam."

Sam glanced around the room that they were in. It was obviously some kind of holding cell, and it was filled with women and children. Some children were with their mothers, while others were crying and had women providing comfort as they hugged the children. In fact, there were more people crying in the room than not. Sam could spot what few female SGC personnel that had been stationed at the Alpha Site going around, offering what comfort and reassurance that they could.

"Where are your parents?" Sam asked.

Cassandra looked away then, down at her hands. "They died," she stated, her voice remarkably steady for a six year old girl. "They tried to escape after we had been captured, and…"

"Oh, Cassandra." Unable to help herself, Sam tugged the little girl into her arms and hugged her tightly. "I'm so sorry."

Cassandra didn't say anything, but she did burrow further into Sam's arm. No matter how mature she had been acting, she was still a little girl who had lost her parents and was now facing another, even more traumatic experience. God only knew what was going to happen to them, and even though Sam couldn't possibly promise to keep this little girl safe, she wanted to anyway.

So Sam said it anyway. "It's going to be okay, Cassandra. I promise."

Still, Cassandra didn't say anything. Her green eyes were bright, full of unshed tears, and Sam hated the fact that this little girl was trying to hold herself together through something that she shouldn't have even had to face in the first place. It was much easier to change the subject, and it could very well help the situation that they were in.

"I was with some men when we were captured," Sam explained slowly. "Do you know where they might be?"

Cassandra wiped under her eyes even though she hadn't shed any tears. "They were put in another holding cell. There's a wall over there." Cassandra pointed to the other side of the room they were in, where there bars separating the one they were in from another one. "They put the men over there. You should be able to find them there."

Sam stood and then extended her hand to Cassandra. "Come with me. Let's see if we can find my friends."

Together, they made their way over to the bars. Sam pressed her face to it, peering in, and she couldn't deny the relief that swept through her when she saw Balinsky, Bosworth, Wells, and Dixon huddled together in the center of the room.

The relief was short-lived. They were obviously stressed beyond belief, which was understandable given the situation they were in. Balinsky had a nasty gash at his temple, and Wells was very clearly injured. Bosworth was keeping track of his vitals, and Dixon had been made the de facto leader. Dixon was the first one to spot Sam, and he grabbed Balinsky's arm and towed him towards the bars.

"Holy shit, Sam," Dixon said. Clearly, all professional pretenses with them had been dropped. "Christ, we had no idea what happened to you. Are you okay? After what you did on the planet, we didn't know if you had been captured or if you had made it through the Stargate to Earth or even if you were still alive—"

"What are you talking about?" Sam demanded. "Do you mean when I tried to save that man? He died anyway, so I don't know what you're talking about—"

Now it was Dixon's turn to interrupt Sam. "Sam, you saved at least thirty of the people on Nasya from being attacked by Jaffa. You rigged one of the Tok'Kals that didn't go off and turned it on the Jaffa. You saved their lives, but it was a damn stupid thing to do."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Sam said again. Her grip tightened on Cassandra's hand, and the little girl squeezed comfortingly. "I don't—I don't remember any of that. What do you mean, I saved all of those people?"

Cassandra squeezed her hand again, and Sam looked towards the little girl. Cassandra didn't look surprised in the slightest, so she obviously knew what was going on, even if Sam had no recollection with what Dixon was talking about.

"Cassandra?" Sam knelt in front of her and put her hands on her shoulders. "Do know what Colonel Dixon is talking about?"

"She should." Despite the situation they now found themselves in, Dixon managed a smile for the little girl. "She was there when it happened."

"You saved those people," Cassandra said. "Colonel Dixon is right."

Sam looked at Dixon, her eyes wide as she realized that the people with her were recalling events that she knew nothing about. Dixon only had to look at Sam to realize that she didn't remember a single thing that had happened after the Tok'Kal had gone off.

"You don't remember anything, do you?" Dixon asked quietly.

"No," Sam whispered. She bit her lip and shook her head. "No, I don't."

Dixon looked towards Balinsky, who sighed and then winced when his facial expression irritated the gash on his face. "The first Tok'Kal had gone off, and it disoriented you for only a moment before you recovered. That was when the Jaffa had landed, and you saved those people. Another Tok'Kal took you out, then. You really don't remember any of this?"

"No," Sam said again as she tried to ignore the thudding of her heart in her chest. "No, I really don't."

Cassandra squeezed her hand again. "It's probably because of Jolinar," she stated.

"Jolinar?" Sam repeated. She looked at Dixon and Balinsky, who simply shook their heads and didn't have anything to say to the unfamiliar name. "Who's Jolinar, Cassandra?"

"You know, Jolinar," Cassandra said, as if Sam was stupid for not recognizing the name. "The Tok'ra."

"Tok'ra?" This time, when Balinsky's brow furrowed, he didn't flinch from the pain, because he was too busy thinking. "Tok'ra means resistance. We're heard rumors about them, but we've never actually met one. Cassandra, are you saying that this Jolinar is a Tok'ra—"

"Wait, hang on." Sam held her hands up and shook her head. She was still trying to remember the events that Dixon and Balinsky had been describing, but it was like there was a mental block in her brain. It was only making her head hurt, and her throat hurt as well. "Who are the Tok'ra, exactly?"

Dixon sighed heavily and exchanged a look with Balinsky. "They're rebel Goa'ulds, supposedly. They oppose the system lords, and they seek power for good. But we've never met one in person. No one at the SGC has."

"You have now," Cassandra said. "Jolinar is in Sam, now."

* * *

"When you say Jolinar is in me, now, Cassandra, do you mean that I'm the host now?"

Cassandra's brow furrowed. "I don't know what that means," Cassandra admitted.

"You said that Jolinar was in me," Sam repeated.

Cassandra nodded her head. "Yes."

Sam's mouth opened and closed. It took a few moments, but she finally decided to try a different approach. "How do you know Jolinar, anyway?"

The little girl was quiet for a long moment. She was silent for so long that Sam honestly thought that she wasn't going to say anything at all. She was just going to have to live with the vague statement that Jolinar was "in her" until they got back to Earth and could figure out something. Because there was no other option—they _would_ make it to Earth, even if Sam died trying.

"Jolinar was first with Quinta," Cassandra explained. "He was a friend of my father's. I knew Jolinar was with him because I have special senses."

"Special senses? What does that mean?"

Cassandra shrugged her shoulders. "Jolinar told me I had them. Cronus brought us over from Hanka after he stole us from Nirrti. Nirrti had preformed experiments on our people, and now I have special senses. That's why I know you have Jolinar."

"I…" This was a lot of information for Sam to suddenly process. They had known about Nirrti, but they had no idea about Cronus. It certainly explained a lot—the fact that the SGC had picked a location for the Alpha Site that was being fought over by two system lords was really quite a stroke of bad luck. Sam was sure that Jack would get a kick out of the irony… if they all made it out of this alive, that is.

The thought of Jack—and the rest of SG-1 and all of her friends and family back on Earth—made Sam freeze. She had been barely holding on as it was before, but it was all about to go down the drain now. It was too much. All of this was simply too much.

They might not have known much about the Tok'ra, but Sam wasn't stupid. She knew that Tok'ra meant symbiote, which—if Cassandra was right and Jolinar was with her—it meant that there was now a symbiote in Sam's body.

There had been a few instances where symbiotes had infiltrated the SGC, but they had all been stopped in time. No one forgot what it was like the first time they had sent an SG team through the Stargate to get Daniel Jackson back from Abydos, and there was a team member that had become a host to a Goa'uld and had almost set off the self destruct at the base. Teal'c had stopped the Goa'uld, which was why they had all trusted him so instantly.

They didn't know anything about the Tok'ra, besides the rumors. The fact that Sam now had to live with the fact that she probably had a symbiote in her was too much and made her want to shut down. She had seen the look on Dixon and Balinsky's faces when Cassandra had said that Jolinar was with her. There had been fear first, concern later. Sam was acting like herself, but how long would that last before Jolinar officially took over?

This was all very bad. And it was only the beginning.

* * *

"Do we have anything yet?"

Daniel shared a concerned look with Teal'c, but neither of them said anything as Jack hovered over Kawalsky's shoulder. They had been trying to get in contact with Nasya for almost thirty-six hours now, and they had been unsuccessful thus far.

The last evacuee from Nasya had officially come through twenty-four hours ago, and Sam and the rest of SG-13 hadn't been among them. Jack had been worried when the first teams and people from Nasya had come through; now he was downright terrified, and trying his very best not to show it. No matter what he was feeling, he couldn't hide it from his team, and they were just as concerned as he was.

"Nothing yet," Kawalsky said with a sigh. He looked over his shoulder at his oldest friend, and then looked away quickly. "You know, Daniel spoke with some of the refugees from Nasya. They said that there were quite a few people captured, including personnel from the Alpha Site—"

"Sam wasn't captured, okay?" Jack said harshly.

Kawalsky pushed back from the computer he had been sitting at for the last ten hours and stood up, so that he was chest to chest with Jack. "Then what, Jack? If she wasn't captured, then what? Then she's dead? Because she didn't come through with the rest of the evacuees from Nasya. So that leaves two options: that she's captured, or dead. I don't know about you, Jack, but one of those options is entirely unacceptable."

"I know that, Kawalsky." Jack's voice was hard and deadly, and even Teal'c took a step forward just in case he had to hold Jack back.

"Right now, I'm hoping that Sam has been captured," Kawalsky continued, even though knew that he was pushing Jack's buttons. "Because she and SG-13 are unaccounted for, and the fact that we can't find them on Nasya means that they're captured, because that means that we can save them."

Jack stared at Kawalsky for a long moment. Daniel and Teal'c hovered behind their two teammates, waiting for the other shoe to drop. "So how are we going to find them, then?" Jack asked. "Because we have nothing to go on. Absolutely nothing. And it's been thirty-six hours, and—"

"So we ask our allies," Daniel said quickly. Smoothing things over was his job, it was what he was good at. His skills, at this exact moment, were very important. He had to do what he could to hold his team together through this, and no matter what happened, they had to be there for Jack through whatever happened next.

Jack stared at Daniel but didn't say anything, so Daniel took that as his cue to continue. "We have contacts, people on other planets who may have heard something. We can ask them, we gather what information that we can, and _then_ we make our next move."

There was another long beat of silence. Teal'c was ready to hold Jack back just in case he took a swing, but neither Daniel nor Kawalsky were scared of it. They had been there when Jack had been at his worst, and even though this horrible thing had happened when Jack was happy once again, they were still ready and still there for him. That's what a team was—that's what family was.

"Okay," Jack finally said. They could get all of their information, and then Jack could worry all he wanted to after that. No matter what, he would still have a plan, and he would still save Sam... and everyone else that the Goa'uld had captured. "Okay."

* * *

 **I was struck by sudden inspiration, and I spent my entire Sunday in front of my laptop, writing this chapter. I'm sorry if it seemed a little rushed, but I hope you all enjoyed it anyway. Thanks for reading!**

 **Once again, thanks to the Stargate Wiki. I get all of my info and details from them. :)**


	9. make my messes matter

**Thank you for the reviews, and thanks to everyone who added this story to their alerts or their favorites!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own anything. This chapter title comes from the song "Sleeping at Last" by Jupiter.**

* * *

 **thirty-one.**

Jack sighed as he stepped through the Stargate. His squinted his eyes in the sun shining down on them, and he slid his sunglasses over his eyes. Daniel, Kawalsky, and Teal'c were next to him, and the heavy silence between all of them was nearly oppressive. It had been like that for the past twenty-four hours, and unless they got some information soon, it was only going to get worse.

They had been to two other planets that had been previously occupied by Goa'uld, in the hopes that they could find any information about the attack on Nasya. They had been unsuccessful so far, and now they were on the planet Hanka. It was a planet that had been previously occupied by Nirrti, and still had some Jaffa that was loyal to the resistance that Teal'c had started. If anyone knew what was going on, it would be those Jaffa.

Ever optimistic, Daniel said, "We'll find something here, Jack."

"That's what you said about the last two planets, Daniel," Kawalsky pointed out.

"So? I'm bound to be right one of these times."

Jack made a noise in the back of his throat and then moved forward, heading towards the village. Teal'c fell into step behind Jack, but not before he tossed one of those one-eyebrow arched looks over his shoulder at his other teammates. Daniel and Kawalsky took up the rear, each of them hoping that they would find something on Hanka.

An hour later, Jack finished a check-in with the SGC while Teal'c was still talking to the rebel Jaffa. It was a serious conversation, and Teal'c had been discussing something with them for the last half an hour. Daniel and Kawalsky had been keeping their distance from Jack, but Daniel kept tossing him looks fraught with concern. Jack would have yelled at him, but somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew that would only lead to more fighting, which was the last thing that any of them needed.

They gathered together once again when Teal'c made his way back towards them. Teal'c being Teal'c, he didn't waste any time. "They have spies within Nirrti's ranks," Teal'c told his team without any preamble. She was behind the raid on Nasya. She was there to take back the people that Cronus had stolen from her."

"There's some war between Cronus and Nirrti?" Daniel winced. "This isn't good."

"Care to share with the rest of the class, Danny?" Jack questioned.

"The two of them have been at war for centuries," Daniel explained. "There were times that one of them managed to get the upper hand, but it always evened out. They call it the War with No End."

"Great. Two snake heads are fighting with each other with no end in sight. What does that mean for us?"

"There were several people matching the descriptions of SG-13 and Doctor Carter spotted on the Goa'uld vessel," Teal'c informed them. "They were among the locals on Nasya that were taken."

Jack sucked in a deep breath as he took his hat off of his head and dragged his hand through his hair. "Okay, so they're on the ship."

"So we go in and kick some ass and get them all back," Kawalsky stated with a shrug of his shoulders. "We've done it before, and we can do it again."

There was a look on Teal'c's normally stoic face that the rest of his team members really didn't like. Their suspicions were confirmed when Teal'c said, "Before the attack on Nasya, Cronus sent an Ashrak. The body was not found on Nasya, nor was he among the refugees at the SGC. There is only one other explanation as to where he might be."

"I hope you mean that he went back to Cronus to beg for forgiveness," Kawalsky said. "Because we can deal with getting Sam and the rest of SG-13 off of some Goa'uld mother ship. But having to deal with a Goa'uld assassin on top of that…"

"The Ashrak would not return back to Cronus without completing his mission," Teal'c said. "Or he would die trying."

Jack's eyes rolled towards the sky. As always, he turned towards sarcasm instead of acknowledging just how worried he was getting. "Once, just once, why can't things be easy?"

* * *

 **thirty-two.**

Sam had so many questions, she didn't even know where to start.

She had to give Dixon and the rest of SG-13 credit; they had quickly gotten over their initial fear at the prospect of Sam having a Goa'uld—or a Tok'ra, more specifically—in her body. In between checking on Wells (who was still bleeding from a staff blast that had caught him in the side), and touching base with Bosworth (who was still keeping tabs son Wells' vitals and keeping an eye on the locals on their side of the cell), Dixon was trying to make a plan with Sam. They didn't have anything yet, because it wasn't like they could accomplish anything until they got out of the cells.

Sam was fairly confident that, if she could get the control panel open, she could figure out a way to get the doors unlocked. The problem with that would be trying to contain the locals from Nasya. Until they had a plan for how they were going to get the hell off of this ship, they couldn't trigger what would likely be mass panic with an attempted escape.

The exhaustion was really setting in now, and Sam was barely able to keep herself on her feet. She was sitting on the floor, with her side pressed to the bars. Cassie was a few feet away from her, fast asleep, wrapped in Sam's BDU jacket. Sam had been sitting in a tired silence with Dixon for almost fifteen minutes, but he suddenly chuckled darkly and shook his head.

"What?" Sam asked around a yawn. "What's so funny?"

"Nothing," Dixon said honestly. "Really, it's nothing. It's just that… Jack is going to kill me when he finds out about this."

"He is not," Sam denied immediately. This whole horrible situation was in no way Dixon's fault. They still didn't even know who had captured them, so how would they have known that there had been an attack coming in the first place?

Then Dixon's words really set in, and Sam sucked in a sharp breath at the thought of just what Jack—and the rest of SG-1—would do when he found out about the situation Sam now found herself in. Sam being a host hadn't even been officially confirmed yet. All they had to go on was the word of a six year old girl who claimed to have "special powers." Sam still felt totally and completely normal, and thus far hadn't exhibited any signs of being a host.

There was also the matter that if she was a host, they had no way of knowing if it truly was a Tok'ra, or if it was a Goa'uld. It was a terrifying prospect, and it was one that Sam couldn't afford to entertain. She had to keep her mind focused on escaping. The other problem would have to wait until later.

Dixon must have come to the same conclusion. "It's going to be okay, you know."

Sam's laugh was near hysterical. "Oh, is it? Because if Cassie is right, and I am a host, it could mean—"

"It could mean a lot of different things," Dixon interrupted. "But SG-1 is going to find us. And when they do, something tells me that if you are a host, there won't be a whole lot that will stop them for figuring out how to help you."

Logically, Sam knew that Dixon's words were truthful. It didn't ease the tension in her chest entirely, but it helped. She yawned again, and noted in the back of her mind that she was having a hard time keeping her eyes open.

"You should sleep," Dixon suggested.

"No, I can't. We need to keep planning, we need to—"

"Nothing is going to happen if we're all too exhausted to even keep our eyes open. Get a few hours of sleep. We'll work in shifts. And later… we'll figure this out."

After another moment, Sam nodded her head and leaned back against the wall. She checked to make sure that Cassie was still sleeping, and then she closed her eyes. Almost immediately, she was asleep as well.

* * *

 _When Sam opened her eyes, she knew that she was still asleep._

 _It was a strange sensation. She knew that she was sleeping, but she also knew that whatever this odd dream was, it was very real._

 _She was back on Nasya, and it was exactly as it had been before the attack. The flowers were blooming, the sun was bright and the sky almost painfully blue. But Sam was completely alone—save for a brunette woman that looked to be a few years younger than her. Just as Sam knew that her dream was real, she instinctively knew this woman._

 _"Jolinar?" Sam asked._

 _The woman smiled and dipped her head in confirmation. "Samantha," she greeted. "I'm sorry."_

 _"For what?"_

 _"That it had to be like this." Jolinar paced back and forth slowly, deliberately. "I had no choice but to take you as my host, Samantha. It wouldn't have been my choice, but I had to in order to survive. I hope you can understand that."_

 _"I don't understand anything," Sam admitted. Those words were hard for her to say, since Sam rooted most of her life in logic and science. She was still struggling to come to terms with the fact that she was having a very real conversation with the symbiote that she now knew for certain was residing in her head in the form of a dream._

 _"You will," Jolinar said with a kind smile. "I'll teach you everything you have to know."_

 _"So you're a Tok'ra, then?" Sam asked, because she had to be absolutely sure. She knew that Jolinar could lie to her, but in her gut, she already knew what the answer was._

 _"Yes," Jolinar said. "I am Jolinar of Malkshur. This isn't a true blending, so I need to prepare you for when I take over your body. It is not a pleasant experience, from what I understand."_

 _"But it's necessary," Sam said. What else was she supposed to say? Her body was now host to a Tok'ra. They had heard the rumors about the Tok'ra over the years, but this was the first time they had officially met one. The whole point was that they resisted the Goa'uld, so Sam knew that they would need whatever information Jolinar had in order to escape._

 _"Very necessary. You want to save your people and the inhabitants of Nasya, correct?"_

 _"Something tells me that you already know the answer to that question." Jolinar was in her head, after all._

 _"I didn't want to take you as a host, you know," Jolinar assured her again. "Just like I didn't want to take the man on Nasya as a host. It was a choice made out of necessity. And I swear to you that when this is over, I'll leave you and take a willing host."_

 _Sam heard Jolinar's words, but there was too much going on to dissect them. She had enough trouble with the fact that she was now a host—she couldn't begin to think about finding another, willing host for Jolinar once they escaped. "So who's this then?" Sam asked as she gestured to the brunette._

 _"My original host," Jolinar exclaimed. "For the last hundred years. Her name was Rosha. I lost her to the ashrak, when he first attacked. Her injuries were too great to heal."_

 _"The ashrak?" Sam repeated._

 _Jolinar sat down on one of the benches surrounding the campfire in the town square. She patted the spot next to her. "Sit down, Samantha. I have much to explain to you."_

* * *

This time, when Sam opened her eyes, she knew that she was actually awake. She sighed and dragged her hands through her hair. Cassie was still fast asleep, so Sam knew that she had only slept herself for a few hours. When she rolled her head to the side, however, she saw that it was Balinsky sitting watch, instead of Dixon.

"Hey," Balinsky said. "Sleep okay?"

"It's true," Sam said instead of answering his question.

"What's true?"

"Me, being host to a Tok'ra. It's true."

"Wow." Balinsky blinked at her, his eyes wide. "Are you sure?"

"Very sure. Jolinar is in my head, after all."

"Wow," Balinsky repeated. "A real, live Tok'ra. This is kind of cool."

Despite the seriousness of the situation, Sam cracked a smile. Balinsky reminded her of Daniel a little bit, what with the extreme enthusiasm and complete disregard for the danger surrounding them.

Two hours later, everyone was awake once again. Balinsky confirmed the presence of the Tok'ra in Sam, while Cassie sat by Sam's elbow, smiling. Cassie knew this Jolinar, and had already decided that they would get out of this okay.

"So, what?" Dixon said. "We're just waiting for Jolinar to take over your body? And then we're supposed to just… listen to her?"

"I guess so," Sam said with a shrug of her shoulders. "I think… I think if we want to make it out of this alive, we need to trust her."

The conversation that Sam had with Jolinar in her dream had taught her a lot. Sam had trusted Jolinar when she said that she would find a new host once this was all over, and she had to trust that Jolinar would figure out a way to get her, SG-13, and the rest of the people from Nasya off of this ship safely.

Dixon exhaled and rubbed his hand over the back of his head. "Nirrti. She's a real bitch, you know."

"A psycho bitch," Wells added with a wince of pain. He was upright, but just barely, with his hands pressed to the dressing on the wound he had. He was still able to move around, but he would certainly need more advanced medical help soon.

"Well, that's just great," Sam muttered. "That makes me feel so much better."

Part of her dream had been Jolinar explaining just who had captured them, and why. She had also explained that the ashrak had been sent by Cronus, but that was just a small detail compared to the rest of what was going on. Sam had a basic plan: get off the mother ship and save everyone first, deal with the ashrak later.

"She performs all sorts of awful experiments on people on different plants," Balinsky said. His eyes were bright, clearly in his element with his knowledge on Goa'uld system lords.

Bosworth whacked Balinsky on the back of the head. "You're really not helping at all, you know."

Dixon rolled his eyes at his teammates. "Jolinar didn't happen to tell you where we were headed, did she?"

"She had a few theories," Sam said. She glanced down at Cassie, who was still smiling sweetly. "But she thinks we might be heading towards one of the planets that Nirrti performed her experiments on. Hanka."

* * *

 **thirty-three.**

"We need to take cover immediately."

Jack looked up from the MRE he had been forcing himself to eat. "What? Why?"

Teal'c had that serious, don't-mess-with-me look on his face. "A Goa'uld mother ship has landed on the other side of the village. It belongs to Nirrti."

"What?" Kawalsky popped up, seemingly out of nowhere. "A Goa'uld mother ship belonging to Nirrti? We couldn't be that fucking lucky, right?"

Jack seriously doubted that they could be, but the look on Teal'c's face was enough to confirm his suspicions. Daniel was hovering in the background, nearly beside himself with the fact that Nirrti had gone to Nasya and had stolen back the inhabitants that Cronus had initially stolen from her.

"It's fascinating, you know," Daniel said, unable to help himself. "Being able to watch themselves wage war with one another, seeing how they make their moves. I can only wonder how Cronus will retaliate—"

"We know how he'll retaliate," Jack interrupted. "He sent an ashrak. An assassin that might very well be among the people captured on that ship."

"We don't even know who the ashrak is after," Kawalsky pointed out. "It's not like Cronus could have known that we put the Alpha Site on Nasya. It was a supposed to be a secure location, after all. Something else must have happened. It had to have been someone else."

You had to know Teal'c to see it, but he had a look on his face, and it was one that Jack instantly recognized. "T? What do you know?"

"A few of the rebel Jaffa mentioned that there might be the possibility of a Tok'ra among the Nasyan people."

"A Tok'ra?" Daniel blurted, eyes wide. "No way. Are you serious? No way!"

"Daniel. Focus."

"What? Jack, do you understand what this means?" Daniel took his glasses off and waved them in the air excitedly. "We might finally have the chance to meet an actual Tok'ra. A real Tok'ra. Someone who can share information with us. They've been fighting the Goa'uld for longer than we have. Centuries, really!"

Jack threw his hands up in the air. "Well excuse me for not being thrilled that a Tok'ra is on the same ship as Sam and SG-13 and the rest of the people from the Alpha Site who didn't manage to be evacuated, being hunted by a Goa'uld assassin. Meeting the Tok'ra isn't exactly high on my list of things to do right now, you know."

"Right." Daniel's cheeks flushed. "I'm sorry, Jack, I just…"

Jack sighed and dragged a hand through his hair. "I know. I just—"

"I know," Daniel said. As usual, that instant understanding passed between them, and both men nodded. That was that, and they were on to their mission: getting those people—the refugees from Nasya and their own people—off of that Goa'uld mother ship.

* * *

"This is weird." Wells looked between Bosworth and Dixon, eyebrows raised. "I'm not the only who thinks that, right? This is weird."

They were following behind Balinsky and Sam as they moved down the hallway of the Goa'uld mother ship—only it wasn't exactly Sam, anymore. She was talking in that deep, robotic voice of a Goa'uld, only it was a Tok'ra. No matter what it was called, they still had to trust a snake head, and it was disconcerting.

"It's a little weird," Dixon admitted as Bosworth nodded his head in agreement. Dixon sighed and looked over towards where Balinsky was still chattering with Sam/Jolinar, his hands waving excitedly. "At least Balinsky is having fun."

"Yeah," Wells muttered under his breath as he pressed his hands to the gauze covering his side. It hadn't bled through yet, but his wound was pulling uncomfortably. "Because this is so much fun."

"Nirrti is here," Jolinar said, in Sam's deep, altered voice.

That got Dixon's attention immediately. "Are you sure?" he asked, his voice harsh. "She didn't just send her First Prime to attack Nasya, or anything?"

"I'm sure," Jolinar stated without looking back. "We have to be prepared to fight her and her Jaffa. I hope you're ready. Samantha seems to think that you are all formidable warriors."

"We might need some weapons first, you know," Bosworth pointed out. "Just to even the odds a little bit."

They had set off the self destruct at the Alpha Site, of course, but they still had the weapons that they had been captured with. They certainly had been stored somewhere, and Jolinar seemed to know exactly where that place was. She led them to a room, pressed a code into the keypad, and ushered them inside. SG-13's vests and weapons were there, along with a few grenades that Dixon snatched up for good measure. Because hey, you never know when a grenade might come in handy.

"You will let me handle Nirrti," Jolinar ordered as they left the room their weapons had been stored in. "And then you will lead the rest of the refugees from your Alpha Site and Nasya out."

"Hey, whoa." Wells held his hands up and blocked Jolinar/Sam's exit from the hallway they were now standing in. "Look, it's all well and good that you're helping us, but you're still in our friend's body. You can't just do whatever you want with her and expect there not to be any consequences."

Jolinar's brow furrowed, and it made Sam looked as if she was confused. It wasn't a look that she wore often, so it seemed completely out of place on her. "I assured Samantha that I would find a willing host once all of this is over. I intend to keep that promise."

"Well, what happens between now and then?" Dixon demanded. "Because you're in control of Doctor Carter's body. You can't just do whatever you want with her, you know. She's a person, and a person who's been extremely lenient with you. You know, despite the way you took over her body without her permission."

"Do you want to get out of here, or not?" Jolinar demanded. Sam's face was full of anger now, and it was so cold and hard, it made SG-13 shudder collectively. It was yet another look that they had never expected to see on Samantha Carter's face.

"Of course we do," Balinsky said, in an attempt to be soothing. "It's just… well, we want to protect Sam, too. You have to understand."

There was a long beat of silence, and then Sam's face suddenly softened, but it was Jolinar who spoke. "I do understand. And I know it's hard for you, but you have to trust me if you want to aid all of those people and make it out of here without perishing."

Dixon stared hard, sure that he was seeing the Tok'ra inhabiting Sam's body. Finally, he nodded his head. "Just… I'd rather that we all made it out of here alive, you know?"

Jolinar nodded her head in return. "I understand. I'll do my best."

* * *

They were near the bridge when they ran into SG-1.

Dixon started cursing spectacularly when he caught sight of Jack and the rest of his team. It only increased when he saw the relieved look that Jack had when he saw Sam. It was so naked, so hopeful, and masked so quickly that it was rather heartbreaking.

Still, he couldn't stop himself from reaching for Sam once they were close enough. The look of confusion on his face was equally as heartbreaking as Sam pulled away, her face blank—only, Jack didn't know that it wasn't Sam who was doing that. Dixon sighed heavily once again; he was completely and totally screwed.

"Ah, Jack," Dixon began. "We sort of have a situation."

"A situation?" Jack repeated. His eyes grew dark, and he glanced at Sam, who only gave him a blank look in return. "Explain. Now."

Dixon's mouth opened and closed several times before Balinsky stepped in. "So, you know the Tok'ra, right?"

"Right," Jack gritted out. Dealing with Balinsky was like dealing with Daniel on crack. Balinsky had barely gotten a full sentence out, and Jack was already annoyed.

"Yeah, well, there was this one Tok'ra. Jolinar. He was hiding in a man on Nasya. And now, that Tok'ra is… well, Jolinar is in Sam."

The silence stretched for so long that it was a miracle that no one came down the hallway they were in and discovered them. Finally, Teal'c punched in one of those universal Goa'uld codes into a keypad and shoved them all into something similar to a Goa'uld storage closet.

Teal'c casually pinned Balinsky to the wall. "You will speak. _Now_ ," he ordered.

"I'm telling the truth!" Balinsky exclaimed as he cast a desperate look to his team leader. "Honest! Sam is now host to Jolinar! It just happened by accident!"

Dixon sighed, as if he was used to getting Balinsky out of trouble with a Jaffa that was nearly three times the size of him—and he probably was. "Come on, big guy," Dixon encouraged as he put a hand on Teal'c's shoulder. "Let him go. He's telling the truth." When Teal'c didn't release Balinsky immediately, Dixon tossed a pleading look in Sam/Jolinar's direction. "Well? Aren't you going to do something to help?"

Teal'c stared hard at Balinsky for another moment. He glanced at Sam, who was still watching them with a blank look on her face. Finally, he released Balinsky and stepped back. He could sense the symbiote in Sam, after all. "Dr. Balinsky speaks the truth," he told them solemnly.

"A Tok'ra?" Jack repeated. His voice was remarkably calm and even given the storm of emotions currently forming within him. It was bad enough when they thought they were going to have to deal with having a Tok'ra around on top of trying to rescue the SGC personnel and the refugees from Nasya. But the thought of Tok'ra being in Sam? It was too much to comprehend.

Jack licked his lips, sucked in a short breath, and continued. "You mean, the Tok'ra that was hiding out on Nasya because it's being hunted by a _Goa'uld assassin_? _That_ Tok'ra?"

"Uh." Bosworth cleared his throat and shot an anxious look at his CO. "Yes. That would be the one."

Jack exhaled a vicious curse while Daniel blinked wide eyes almost comically. Teal'c looked just as stoic as he ever did, while Kawalsky had his arms crossed over his chest in an I-told-you-so sort of way. This was certainly an unexpected turn of events, but it was one that they would have to take in stride; there would be time to dissect it all later.

Daniel, looking at his best friend, saw the exact moment that Jack came to that conclusion. Jack already looked the part of the perfect soldier, so you had to know him to see it. But he straightened his shoulders, his eyes became darker, more closed off, and that throbbing vein in his jaw appeared.

"You guys appeared to be on your way to do something," Jack said. His tone was conversational now, as if they weren't all standing in the alien version of a storage closet on a Goa'uld mother ship after he just found out his girlfriend—or whatever Sam was to him—was now host to a Tok'ra. "Care to share?"

Dixon was the first to speak, and he did so quickly in an effort to keep Jolinar from saying something that she shouldn't. "We were just working on our escape plan." It wasn't a lie, technically.

Of course, Jolinar had to bluntly state the truth anyway. "SG-13 was going to gather the refugees from your planet and Nasya. I was going to find Nirrti and accomplish the mission I was sent here for."

Daniel had a sinking feeling in his gut. He knew what that mission might be, and he didn't like it one bit. He asked anyway. "What mission would that be?"

"To kill Nirrti."

Jack barked out a laugh, and all eyes turned towards. "What?" he snapped once he realized everyone was looking at him. "This has to be a joke, right? Because we aren't going to let that happen."

Jack felt Sam's eyes on him, and when he finally looked at her—into her eyes for the first time since he had run into them on the ship—it was jarring to realize that it wasn't really Sam he was looking at. Sure, it was her face, but he couldn't see anything of Samantha Carter in her eyes.

Pushing that thought to the back of his mind, Jack met Sam's eyes calmly. Sam—Jolinar, really—stared at him for another long moment. Jack had seen people possessed by Goa'ulds before, but this was an entirely different experience, and it bothered him just how much he was unnerved by it.

"You are O'Neill, correct?" Jolinar finally asked.

"Yes."

Something flickered, briefly, in Sam's face then. Jack admittedly didn't know very much about the blending of a Tok'ra with its host, but he did know that it was vastly different from the way a Goa'uld took over its host's body. Even so, Jack swore he saw a flash of Sam in that look. And it shook him in ways he didn't care to dissect in that moment.

"I'm sorry," Jolinar said.

She held his gaze for another half a second. Then, the moment was over as quickly as it had started. She spun on her heel, left the little room they were in, and took off down the hallway once again. Dixon cursed and hurried after her, moving to cover her while she hugged the wall and checked to see if there were any Jaffa nearby.

"What. The. Hell," Kawalsky finally managed.

Jack scrubbed his hands over his face as he sucked in a deep breath through his nose. He could feel Daniel's eyes on him—those concerned, puppy dog eyes that he had seen plenty of times over the years. Jack felt like he could very well lose his shit if he saw Daniel watching him like that, and that absolutely could not happen while they were standing on a Goa'uld mother ship, trying to free a hundred or so people from capture.

Jack opened his eyes, squared his shoulders. "Let's go," he ordered.

"But, Jack—" Daniel began. Jack shot him a dark look over his shoulder, and Daniel instantly clamped his mouth shut. He typically pushed Jack, heedless of what the outcome might be, but in that instant, Daniel knew that it was probably the worst thing he could possibly do. So he shut up, because this was only the beginning.

Kawalsky, in a switch of roles, didn't have a problem pushing. "We're not going to talk about this?" he demanded, even as he followed his commanding officer down the corridor. "We're just going to go along with this?"

"Yes, Kawalsky. We are," Jack gritted out.

"But—"

Jack held up his hand, and Kawalsky fell silent as well. One of Teal'c's eyebrows was arched just slightly, but he didn't say anything. That single, raised eyebrow said it all. Now completely silent, SG-1 joined SG-13 and Sam/Jolinar where they were huddled in an alcove.

"Is it just me, or do Nirrti's forces seem heavily depleted?" Bosworth asked. "I feel as though we should have run into a Jaffa or two by now."

Grateful for the opportunity to be normal, Jack grabbed on to it almost desperately. He rolled his eyes and said, "Christ, Bosworth, are you trying to jinx us?"

Jolinar's eyes were focused at the end of the corridor, where the bridge was. "Much of Nirrti's forces were depleted in her last battle with Cronus. I suspect the few she does still have are keeping an eye on those she captured on Nasya."

"So we shouldn't expect her to have much protection, then," Kawalsky stated. He had gotten his head back in the game, and Jack was grateful. As many problems as Sam being host to a Tok'ra presented, they were issues that they were going to have to push aside until they got off of the freaking mother ship and away from Hanka entirely.

"Her first prime is likely there, along with a few other of her personal guard," Jolinar confirmed. Her face hardened. "She should not be underestimated, however."

"Yeah, we're aware with how sneaky Nirrti is," Daniel mumbled. No one forgot the time she had been at the SGC as a part of the Protected Planets Treaty, after all.

Jack shrugged his shoulders, unconcerned. "We've got Teal'c," he said, as if that would solve all their problems.

Jolinar cocked her head to the side and considered that statement briefly. Jack opened his mouth once again—to discuss with Dixon what their best plan of attack would be—when, without any warning, Jolinar took off down the hallway.

Every single one of them cursed—even Teal'c, though his expletive was uttered in another language. Teal'c was the one who caught up with her first, latching onto her arm in an attempt to stop her. Jolinar wretched her hand away and shoved at Teal'c, hard. Teal'c stumbled but righted himself almost immediately, and they all quickly came to the same conclusion: there would be no stopping Jolinar, so it would just be best to provide her with cover.

It was just another reminder of how strange this whole situation was. The Tok'ra inside of Sam provided her with enough strength that she was able to almost easily knock Teal'c to the ground, despite the fact that it wasn't even a true blending.

Jack caught up to them and pressed a zat into Jolinar's hand. The look on his face was nonnegotiable, and he was relieved when Jolinar simple took the weapon and said nothing as they continued to move. She might have had alien super strength, or whatever, but Jack felt much better knowing that everyone was going in armed.

They burst onto the bridge, and Jack was annoyed to find that Jolinar had been wrong; there were more than just "a few" of her personal guard. There were at least fifteen Jaffa in there, all clearly tasked with protecting their goddess. Nirrti stood behind their protective formation, torturing one of the people from Nasya with a hand device. She hadn't even looked up when SG-1, SG-13, and Jolinar had made it onto the bridge, but she had smirked.

There were eight of them, though, and eight SG team members could take on fifteen Jaffa in their sleep any day of the week. There was something to be said for environment, however. It wasn't like the bridge of a mother ship was the best place for a fire fight, after all—especially not when they had a civilian to keep safe, and a homicidal Tok'ra possessing one of their own.

All consideration stopped when Jack felt the heat from a staff blast pass uncomfortably close to his cheek. He took cover, shouting orders to Dixon and Kawalsky as he returned fire. Half of the Jaffa in Nirrti's guard were protected by a force field, and of course that force field separated them from Nirrti, as well. She was still unconcerned with the fire fight happening right in front of her, taking too much pleasure instead in the torture she was unleashing on the poor man from Nasya.

His screams of pain were drowned out by the sound of gunfire and staff blasts. Nirrti wasn't even trying to get information from him, anymore. She was just torturing him because she could.

The look on Sam's—Jolinar's—face was murderous, and Jack saw it as he spotted her moving the control consul in the center of the large room. He hoped to god that he never saw that look on her face ever again.

Jolinar crouched behind the control consol, using it for cover as she reached up and moved her fingers over the panel. It took almost thirty seconds, but then the force field suddenly wasn't there anymore. Now the rest of the Jaffa were fair game, and the two SG teams became entirely focused on removing the obstacle that stood between them and Nirrti.

There were still a handful of Jaffa standing when Jack heard the shriek of anger emanating from Nirrti. He fired off another shot and turned just in time to see Jolinar—Sam, it was _Sam_ —lock her arms around Nirrti's head and yank, hard, to the side.

The snap of Nirrti's neck reverberated through the now silent bridge of the mother ship. Nirrti's eyes glowed once, and then grew dark.

Another beat of silence passed and then one of the Jaffa swiveled towards Jolinar, his staff weapon swinging towards her. Teal'c was across the room in seconds, shoving the staff weapon away and staring down the Jaffa.

"Your god is dead," Teal'c stated. "Surrender. You are free, now."

The rest of the Jaffa were surrendering to Teal'c, but Jack's eyes were on Jolinar. It was Sam he was staring at, and he knew that, but the fact that she was wholly indifferent to the fact that she had just snapped someone's neck with her bare hands—even if that person was a Goa'uld, and a psycho one at that—was something that Jack just couldn't wrap his mind around.

Sam was still in there, he knew. In the back of his mind, he briefly wondered if she was aware of what had just happened. Jack pushed that thought away immediately. The only thing he had time to focus on right now was getting all those captured off of the mother ship safely.

"Let's go," Jack ordered. "We'll round up the rest of the SGC personnel from the Alpha Site, and they can help us get the refugees from Nasya off the ship and back to the SGC."

Dixon started directing the rest of his team, and they broke off and headed down towards the holding cells. Kawalsky followed close behind them, keeping a close eye on Wells, whose injury was really starting to affect him. Kawalsky typically acted as their field medic, and he was already pulling his med kit out of his pack as they walked.

Daniel paused besides Jack and looked as if he wanted to say something. He paused, seemed to think better of it, and reached out to clasp Jack's shoulder instead. Jack glanced at Daniel, and his eyes said it all. He was grateful for the silent support, appreciative of the way that Daniel was choosing not to comment on what had just happened.

It was suddenly over, as quickly as it had started. They had stormed the mother ship, found their capture friends and co-workers, and had to come face to face with Sam being host to a Tok'ra whose mission it was to murder Nirrti. That mission was completed, now, and it was just… over.

Jack caught Teal'c's eye and noticed the look the Jaffa was giving him. Jack was already feeling like shit, but a bad feeling formed in the pit of his stomach, and… he got the feeling that this whole thing was just beginning.

* * *

 **thirty-four.**

"So what happens now?"

Daniel sighed and crossed his arms over his chest as he watched Jack direct a group of SGC personnel from the Alpha Site. He glanced over at Kawalsky who turned his own eyes from Jack to Sam… or Jolinar, as it were. She was with Cassie, and it was obvious that the little girl was completely comfortable with the Tok'ra—and it went both ways. Cassie was the only one that Jolinar actually spoke to, seemed at ease with.

Daniel had seen Jack notice that very fact. He had briefly introduced himself to the young girl, told her a joke that he had probably told to his own son once upon a time, and smiled when she had giggled. Jack had spared a glance at Sam—Jolinar—and then had turned away, going back to helping everyone else.

"I don't know," Daniel admitted sadly.

Kawalsky shook his head. "Do you think she's even still in there?"

Without hesitation, Daniel answered. "I do."

He had to believe that. There had been evidence of the Tok'ra, rumors that they head for years, and Daniel had to choose to believe that they were as good as they claimed to be. He had trust that Tok'ra were nothing like the Goa'uld, and that his friend was still in there, somewhere. The alternative was simply unacceptable.

"How do you know?" Kawalsky needed a little bit more convincing. Even before joining the SGC, he had seen things that were too horrible to comprehend. Given that Jolinar was the first Tok'ra that they had ever met, and that Tok'ra had essentially hijacked his friend's body, it didn't bode too well for Kawalsky's opinion about the Tok'ra.

Daniel swallowed hard. "Because I've seen what it's like when a Goa'uld completely takes over. This isn't it. Sam is still in there."

He had seen it, too. Once they were off of the mother ship, Daniel had pulled Balinsky aside and asked him about what had happened once Nirrti had attacked. Balinsky had explained everything: how Sam had performed CPR on the Nasyan that Jolinar had been hiding in; how they had met Cassie once they had been captured; how Sam had explained to them what was going to happen once Jolinar took over; and finally, how Jolinar had taken over, right when they had escaped from their cell.

Watching Jolinar with Cassie, Daniel could see glimpses of Sam in their interactions. Sam had bonded with the little girl as well, before Jolinar had taken over. Sam was still in there, and Daniel had to believe that Jolinar would leave her once they found another host.

That still didn't abate Daniel's curiosity, and he found himself walking towards Jolinar and Cassie. The little girl smiled sweetly at him and then moved away, as if she knew some kind of serious conversation was about to take place.

Jolinar looked up at Daniel with eyes that were Sam's, but not at the same time. "You're Daniel Jackson," she said.

Daniel gave her that good-natured smile that he gave to every alien they came in contact with. "I guess having access to other people's memories works out well for you."

Jolinar blinked at him. "Even if I didn't have Samantha's memories, I would have known you anyway. You helped kill Ra. You've defeated Apophis on numerous occasions. You and your friends are known quite well throughout the galaxy."

"Yeah, we've heard that once or twice." Daniel shrugged unapologetically. "So. You're a Tok'ra, then?"

"I am."

"And you're going to find another host after all of this is said and done, correct?"

Jolinar smiled, and it wasn't the open, kind one that Daniel was used to seeing on Sam's face. There was something sneaky about this smile, secretive in a way that made Daniel uncomfortable. It could have been Jolinar, or it just could have been the way that the Tok'ra were. Either way, Daniel wasn't sure that he would like the answer he was about to get.

"You're important to Samantha, you know," Jolinar said. "You all are. Your team. She loves all of you, in very different ways."

"Yeah. So?"

"So." Jolinar sat down on the ground, cross-legged. She patted the ground next to her, and Daniel stared down, contemplative. Then he folded himself next to her and waited patiently.

"I have lived for thousands of years," Jolinar said. Her voice was calm, even, as if she talked about living for millennia at a time every day. "And after all that time, I've never had anyone love me—or care about me—the way that you all care for Samantha. I would never stand in the way of that."

Jolinar still hadn't answered the question. "So you'll leave, then? You'll find another host. And soon." Daniel was aware that he hadn't made the last part a request. He could see that Jolinar knew that, as well.

"I said I would, didn't I?" Jolinar finally said with a sigh. "I always keep my word."

Daniel supposed that was going to have to be good enough.

* * *

They had quite a time back at the SGC, explaining how they ended up with all of the refugees—plus how Sam was now host to a Tok'ra. General Hammond had yelled for a solid hour about that particular fact before he had finally calmed down

They hadn't put Sam in a holding cell, but they had essentially put her on lockdown in one of the VIP rooms. General Hammond had ordered the rest of them to get some rest, but Jack had been unable to get comfortable. So it was at three o'clock in the morning that he found himself pacing outside of Sam's—Jolinar's—VIP room.

He had only been there for a few minutes when Janet came down the hallway, her heels click-clacking slowly. She didn't seem all that surprised to find Jack standing outside of Sam's room. She sighed and shook her head, clucking her tongue.

"You should get some rest," Janet recommended.

Jack shook his head sharply and swiveled on his heel, pacing in the opposite direction. "Can't sleep."

Janet looked unimpressed by that statement, and she crossed her arms over her chest and arched an eyebrow. "Don't make me strap you to a bed and sedate you."

Jack stopped and sighed, casting his friend an exasperated look. "Doc."

"I'm serious, Colonel. You need to get some rest. Doing this—" Janet gestured to the door that their friend was locked behind, "—isn't going to help. Especially if you don't get any sleep."

Jack released another sigh and leaned back against the wall, next to the door. "I can't sleep," he repeated, as if that would explain everything. And Janet understood, because Sam was her best friend, after all.

"Look," Janet finally said. "I'm your doctor, and I'm your friend. So I'm saying this because I care." Janet took a deep breath before charging on, because it needed to be said. "You love her. And this… this isn't easy. But it's going to be okay."

Jack held Janet's gaze for only a beat longer before he looked away. He supposed that what she said was true—not that he and Sam had ever discussed their feelings for one another. Still, he couldn't help but remember the look in her eyes when she told him to be safe before they left for their respective missions. Maybe it was too early to call it love, but in the privacy of his own mind… yeah, Jack could admit that it probably was.

"Jolinar is going to find a new host, right?" Janet asked after a long beat of silence. She had given the initial examination to Jolinar/Sam, but hadn't really had a chance to talk to her. She had heard the debriefing and knew what was supposed to happen, but there was no definite course of action yet. Every second that Jolinar remained in Sam was beyond stressful. The sooner this all was over, the better.

"That's the plan," Jack said. He dragged his hands through his hair and pushed back from the wall.

He was a man who always had a plan of action. Being stuck in a situation like this, where he had no idea what to do next, no control of what was going to happen, grated at him like nothing else. Hence the reason why he was pacing outside of her room in the middle of the night.

"They're going to check and see if any of the Nasyans are willing to become a host," Jack continued. "Jolinar wanted to contact the Tok'ra and go back to them, but Hammond thought it would be too much of a risk."

Feeling suddenly exhausted, Jack slumped back against the wall once again. Janet sank to the floor next to him, tucking her legs to the side. For the next few hours, they sat in silence outside of Sam's room. Together.

* * *

Two days came and went, and they were no closer to finding a new host for Jolinar. The people from Nasya had just been through a terrible trauma, and they had their home world taken away from them on top of that. None of them were willing to put themselves in an unknown situation, and no one could blame them.

Teal'c and Daniel had gone to the VIP room a few times, mostly just to ask questions about the Tok'ra to see what they could find out. Jolinar hadn't been terribly forthcoming with information, and she seemed to resent being put on lockdown.

Jack had visited her exactly one time, and that had been all that he could handle. It had mostly been Jolinar trying to negotiate for some free time outside of her room. Jack didn't like looking into Sam's face and not seeing her there. Thankfully, Teal'c had no problem handling most of the questioning, and he knew just how Jack was feeling.

Halfway through lunch, though, Jack had finally decided he had enough. It was time to make some changes, get someone to make a decision with finding Jolinar a new host. Someone had to give, whether it was Jolinar or General Hammond. Hell, Jack would escort Jolinar to the Tok'ra home world himself if it meant he could get Sam back.

Jack was almost to the VIP room when the alarms started going off. That horrible feeling formed in the pit of his stomach and he took off running before he could even really think about it. He got there before any of the SFs, and what he saw nearly made his heart stop.

Sam was sprawled on the floor, her skin so pale and lying so still that she looked… dead.

* * *

 **Well, I'm sure you can guess what happens next. Thanks for reading!**


	10. you are a rock upon which i stand

**Thanks for the reviews and the favorites and the alerts!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own anything. This chapter title comes from the song "Green Eyes" by Coldplay.**

* * *

 **thirty-five.**

Jack couldn't hear anything over the roaring in his ears.

He couldn't hear the alarms that were going off anymore, and even though he knew Teal'c was on the phone, summoning a medic to the VIP room, he couldn't hear his voice. He knew that there was a dead guard shoved just in the doorway of the room, but Jack couldn't see him, either.

All he could see was Sam. Her pale skin, the dark circles under her eyes, the small trickle of blood at her hairline… and all he could feel was her fluttering, weak heartbeat under his fingers. For one heat-stopping, crazy moment, Jack wanted to press his ear to her chest in an effort to hear her heartbeat, to reassure himself that she really was still alive.

But he didn't. Instead, he smoothed her damp, messy hair back from her face, whispering, pleading with her to hold on, to come back to him. "Come on, Sam," Jack murmured as his fingers touched her chin, tilting her head back. His other hand remained firmly pressed to the pulse beating weakly under his fingertips, and he almost desperately held on to that.

After everything that had happened—after her capture, after finding her and the rest of the SGC personnel on Nirrti's ship, after discovering that she was a host to a Tok'ra—this wasn't how it ended. It couldn't be. He was Jack O'Neill, and he was part of SG-1, and he had been saving the world and defying the odds with his team for over four years. It wasn't all going to end now.

It couldn't.

* * *

The infirmary doors slammed open.

Janet had been performing CPR for the three minutes and thirty-seven seconds it had taken to get from the VIP room down to the infirmary.

Sam's vitals had been down the whole time.

Jack stood off to the side in the infirmary, hands on his hips as he watched Janet try to save her best friend's life. She worked efficiently, her voice steady as she ordered the other nurses and doctors around her. Anyone watching from the outside would never know that she had a deep, personal attachment to the woman on the table.

The rhythm of Sam's heartbeat stuttering to a stop, then starting up again after they shocked back into rhythm was one of the worst sounds Jack had ever heard in his entire life. He was annoyed to feel his eyes burning, and he brushed his thumbs under his eyes just to make sure that there were no tears involved.

Teal'c was standing next to him, his presence strong and steady, and Jack hung on to that in an effort to keep it together. He heard Janet talking to the other doctors, talking about how they were getting two different readings—one for Sam, and one for Jolinar.

Both readings were weak, and fading fast. They pushed more drugs, kept administering oxygen, and shocked Sam's heart into starting once again. The fourth time they used the paddles, Janet leaned over her friend and whispered fiercely, "Come on, Sam. Don't do this. Fight this." Her words were so quiet that Jack didn't think anyone besides him (and probably Teal'c) had even heard them, even with all the other people bustling around her.

Sam's heart started again, the beeping accelerated but steady. The breath that Jack had been holding was released slowly, and he leaned back against the wall. He couldn't take it anymore, and the silence from the other people in the room was too much.

"Doc?" Jack asked

"I don't know," Janet said immediately. Only because Jack knew her so well did he hear the underlying note of hysteria in her voice. Of course, Janet had treated her friends before, and she cared for everyone in the SGC, form General Hammond down to the parking attendants on the surface.

This, however… this was different. It wasn't just because Sam was her best friend, because to anyone else who didn't know Janet as well as the men of SG-1 did, she was the consummate professional. This had been a high-stress, tense situation for days, and to be the front of the accumulation of it all… it was a lot.

"I've never dealt with anything like this before," Janet admitted. "Jolinar looks like she's dying, and… and she's taking Sam with her."

That wasn't good enough, but Jack didn't dare voice that thought to Janet. He knew enough to know that saying something like that wouldn't help her, and it wouldn't help save Sam. It was too much, and Jack was struck with the sudden thought that he couldn't actively show how he was feeling. There was a certain stoicism expected with being the head of the flagship SG team, but more than that… no one really knew the extent of his relationship with Sam.

Sure, the rumor mill had been churning for months now, but that was nothing new. He and Sam had been officially been seeing each other for what, three months now? Almost four? Certainly not long enough for it to become official news amongst the rest of the personnel at the SGC. Their close friends knew, and so did SG-13, and General Hammond probably already knew too, because he knew everything.

It wasn't confirmed, common knowledge, though. Jack was smart enough to know that after this, however, there was a pretty good chance that everyone was about to find out about his relationship with Sam.

And he couldn't bring himself to care.

Jack was shaken from his thoughts when the klaxons started blaring once again, and Harriman's voice came over the intercom: "Security alert! Intruder in the Gate Room! Code red!"

Jack glanced at Teal'c, and his Jaffa friend arched his eyebrow, letting him know that it was Jack's choice. Teal'c would stand there, by his side, as they tried to save Sam's life, if that's what Jack wanted.

Jack appreciated it, but he knew that Teal'c would be able to help more with the situation in the Gate Room. So he nodded his head, and he said, "Go."

Teal'c inclined his head once, spared a glance towards Sam's unconscious form, before he turned on his heel and left the infirmary. The doctors and the medics still bustled around Sam's body, talking about how Jolinar's energy levels were still fading, and Janet demanded that they push another milligram of epi.

Janet froze suddenly, just as the harsh tone of the flat line reached Jack. He pushed away from the wall, propelling himself towards the table that Sam was stretched out on. There was no way that this could be happening, because she couldn't die, not like this, not when things were still so new but so wonderful between them, not before they had even really gotten to the good stuff, and…

And it wasn't Sam's pulse that had flat lined. "Jolinar is dead," Janet stated, before she ordered the medic next to her to prepare for de-fib. Jolinar might have been dead, and while they had no idea what that could mean, they were still getting read-outs from Sam's vitals. There was still a chance that she could be saved, and they damn well would do everything they could to make sure they achieved that.

Jack grasped one of Sam's limp hands, holding her pale fingers between both of his palms. In that moment, it was like he believed that she would wake up through his force of will alone, through his belief that everything would turn out alright. Janet and the rest of the medics seamlessly worked around him, as if they were used to a colonel inserting himself next to one of their patient's bedsides.

A steady beeping filled the suddenly silent room, and they all watched the monitor for a long moment, as if they couldn't quite believe what was happening. Then Janet used her stethoscope, listening to Sam's heart, while a medic administered oxygen.

"She's stabilizing," Janet announced, and she was unable to keep the smile off of her face. The medic administered two more breaths of oxygen before he pulled the mask away.

Jack watched, unable to tear his eyes away as Sam's throat worked. She took her first breath on her own in over fifteen minutes, and a pulse of relief went through Jack. He stared, enraptured, holding on to hope, as she took another breath and then another one. She made a little noise in the back of her throat, and Jack's eyes shot up to her face. He knew what was coming next, and the world froze for a moment as he waited.

Then Sam's eyes opened, and they were hers—blue and tired and sad, but they were _hers_. Not caring who was around, he cupped her cheek in one hand and held onto her hand in the other. She looked confused for a moment, but then her exhausted eyes landed on him and her shoulders relaxed only slightly.

"You did it, Sam," Jack murmured. "You did it. You won."

Sam swallowed and licked her dry lips. It took her a second to find her voice, and it was painful to talk. "It wasn't me," she whispered.

"Yes it was," Jack insisted. He had stood at her side while it was all happening, after all. He had watched the whole thing play out, and he had seen her fight her way back. It had been right there on the monitors. "You held on. You won."

Sam shook her head, and tears gathered in her eyes. She blinked, and one rolled down her cheek, quickly followed by another. "Jolinar gave her life for me. She saved me."

* * *

 **thirty-six.**

"Hey."

Jack jerked awake when Daniel put a hand on his shoulder. It was a testament to just how tired he was that he didn't immediately put Daniel on his ass, as his reflexes normally would have done when his brain was still half-asleep. He sat up fully in his chair, rubbing his eyes with his fingers.

Instead of returning Daniel's greeting, Jack asked, "Is she still awake?"

Jack's chair was parked next to Sam's bed, in a private room in the infirmary. Her back was to him, facing away from the door and anyone else who might come into the room. Ever since Janet had put her in there, she had been laying like that, eyes open and staring at the opposite wall, her face devoid of any kind of emotion.

Daniel peered over Sam's prone form, and, sure enough, she was staring at the wall. Her eyes were drooping and she was clearly exhausted, but it was obvious she was doing everything she could not to close her eyes. She didn't even move when Daniel leaned against the mattress in order to get leverage to see her face.

"She's awake," Daniel murmured.

Jack nodded his head and dragged his hands through his hair, making it stand on end. His uniform was wrinkled, and there were bags under his eyes. He hadn't changed since he had found Sam nearly dead in the VIP room, and that was almost twenty-four hours ago. It had been twelve hours since Janet had moved her into the private room, and Jack hadn't moved from her side since those first few horrible moments.

"You need to get some sleep, Jack," Daniel said.

Jack shook his head and crossed his arms over his chest, purposefully looking away from his friend. "I slept."

"Sleeping in a chair doesn't count," Daniel pointed out. "You need to get some rest. _Real_ rest."

Jack got annoyed with Daniel much faster than he usually did. He was tense, frustrated, and he was angry, and there had been nothing that he could use as an outlet for that anger. "Damn it, Daniel!" he snapped. "I don't need sleep, okay? I need—" He choked off, well aware that what he needed was right in front of him, and basically unresponsive.

"Jack." Daniel exhaled slowly and put his hand on Jack's shoulder, well aware of the fact that his friend was liable to punch him for even daring to try and show him comfort. When Jack didn't immediately move, Daniel risked squeezing his shoulder once. "She's not going to be alone. I'll sit with her. I won't leave her."

For once, Jack's face was remarkably open. Daniel could see the clear war on his face, the struggle between the decisions he had to make: should he get some of the rest he so desperately needed, or should he refuse to leave Sam's bedside, on the off chance that she could suddenly start talking after the trauma she had been through?

"You're not going to be able to help her if you're dead on your feet," Daniel said.

With those words, Jack knew that Daniel was right. There would be no helping Sam if he couldn't stay awake long enough to even talk to her. Not only that, but he trusted Daniel with his own life. It went without saying that he would trust Daniel to stay by Sam's bedside.

Jack stood up and rolled his shoulders, stretching his arms over his head at the same time. After so many hours sitting in the same position in a chair, his body ached. It was easy to ignore all of that in the face of Sam's pain, though.

"You'll let me know if anything changes." It wasn't a question. Jack might have been willing to leave, but he wouldn't stand for a change in Sam without knowing about it.

"Of course," Daniel assured immediately.

Jack stared hard at his friend for a long moment. Finally satisfied, he nodded his head once. He turned towards Sam and stroked some of her hair back from her face. Leaning over, he pressed a kiss to her temple.

"I'll see you in a little bit," he murmured in her ear.

Jack paused, hoping for some kind of response—anything, really. Hell, he would have taken anger, her pushing him away, because it would have been more emotion than anything she had shown in the past twelve hours.

But Sam didn't move.

Releasing a sigh, Jack turned and headed for the door of the private room. Daniel had taken Jack's spot in the chair by Sam's bedside, and he stopped briefly to squeeze his shoulder before he left.

The door shut softly behind Jack, and Sam still didn't make a move.

* * *

A whole ten minutes passed in silence, but finally Sam rolled onto her back. Daniel jerked in his chair, but he didn't rise, and he didn't make a move to go and get Jack. He knew that whatever this was, it was something that Sam needed to do without Jack's presence.

Another seven minutes went by, and Sam finally turned her head towards Daniel. Her face remained impassive, but she blinked once. Daniel exhaled slowly, relaxing further back into the chair Jack had spent the past twelve hours in. He dragged a hand over his face, feeling relief course through him. This was a step in the right direction.

Sam couldn't definitely explain why it was so much easier to face Daniel than Jack. Maybe it was just Daniel's open, accepting face, or maybe it was because she wasn't afraid to appear weak in front of Daniel, the way she sometimes was with Jack.

Sam already knew the truth, since she had a lot of time to think about it since she woke up—and she had been thinking about while Jolinar had control of her body. She had basically given up full control to Jolinar, with no fight at all. She couldn't help but wonder what any of the other members of SG-1—or hell, SG-13—would have done in her place, but she had a feeling that they wouldn't have just taken becoming a host to a symbiote lying down. Even if that symbiote was a Tok'ra, they hadn't had very much to back that up at the time. Sam had gone into the quasi-blending with blind faith, and the hope that Jolinar would keep her word.

Those final moments with Jolinar in her head was something that Sam didn't really want to think about. She felt weak, like she was barely holding on, and it was all because she had given in so easily with Jolinar.

Logically, she knew that there was nothing she could have done once she had become host to Jolinar. In the back of her mind, the scientific part of her knew that she had made the best of a horrible situation, and that allowing Jolinar to take over had saved their lives.

Still, she remembered what it was like when her own hands grasped Nirrti's head and twisted so hard that her neck broke.

She easily recalled the Jolinar's fury, the way it had blended seamlessly with her own emotions for one terrifying moment.

She remembered the fear in her friends' eyes, they way they had looked at her with concern and mistrust, because there was someone else controlling her actions, her words.

Those were things she didn't want to relive again, things she didn't want to talk about. Sam wasn't quite sure how to verbalize that to Daniel. It was difficult for her, given that she normally didn't have trouble with words, whether it was educational or in relation to her feelings.

As always, though, Daniel seemed to understand. He gave her a small smile and reached forward, taking her hand in his. "I know this is difficult right now, Sam, but everything is going to work out. You're going to be okay."

Sam still didn't say anything, but she did sigh softly. Her eyes tracked down to where her hand was wrapped around Daniel's, and he squeezed softly. Her fingers tightened around his on instinct, and Daniel's smile widened.

Sam was in there, but she was hurting. It would take time to heal, and that was okay. She could take all the time she needed, because they weren't in a rush. They would be there for her, with her—always by her side if she needed it and never that far away if she needed space.

Working for over four years at the SGC had taught Daniel a lot about life and loss. He hadn't been unfamiliar with loss before starting his work at the SGC, though it had been a loss of a different sort. His childhood had been amazing, since he traveled with his parents all over the world due to the digs they went on. He learned from the best, being educated by the scholars that were on the digs, and he had grown up seeing things that most people only dreamed about.

But Daniel hadn't had the chance to really be a child. His relationship with his parents had been strained, at best, and it had only gotten worse the older that he got. Once he had started with his theories about the Egyptian pyramids and the aliens… well, his parents had basically disowned him after that. They were _serious_ about their work, and they wouldn't stand to associate with themselves with someone who had such outlandish theories.

His parents had shown him the world, but the SGC—and SG-1—had shown him the universe. There was so much more out there, and he had experienced life and love and loss and happiness and sadness, and he had finally _lived_. Throughout those four years, he had learned how to cope with all of that pain, learned how to bounce back from it.

It was how Daniel knew, without a doubt, that Sam would make it through this.

* * *

"Hey, Sam." Janet peered at the monitor displaying Sam's vitals, made a note in her chart, and then smiled at her friend. She was relieved to see the acknowledgment of her greeting in Sam's face, even though she didn't speak, or smile in return. It was still progress, though, so Janet considered it a win.

Teal'c was the member of SG-1 currently sitting by Sam's bedside. There wasn't much time, really, that there wasn't a member of the flagship team sitting with Sam. And when they couldn't be there, for whatever reason, someone from SG-13, or General Hammond himself, was there.

There were a few hours a day that Janet insisted Sam had some time to herself. All members of SG-1 had originally protested, vehemently, insisting that the last thing Sam needed was to be by herself. Janet had insisted, telling the overprotective men that it was a necessary part of the healing process. Sam had to know that it was okay to be by herself, and she had to know that she could get through it.

They had started five days ago, only going for an hour that first time. Sam was shaking by the end of it, but she had done it. When Jack had come striding into her private room after exactly one hour was up, she managed the smallest version of a smile for him, and Jack had felt better than he had for over a week.

Kawalsky was her mid morning buddy, keeping her amused with card games and board games that he kept appearing with. She didn't talk, but she did play, and after the first few times, she played to win. She soundly whipped Kawalsky's butt at least eighty percent of the time that they played.

Teal'c would always show up with lunch, and sit quietly until Sam ate enough. Those first few days, Sam would push the food around on her plate, only taking a few bites to try and satisfy her friends. Teal'c always sat next to her, crossing his arms over his chest as he looked pointedly at her plate and arched the single eyebrow until she took the hint and started eating again. He would always give her a soft, gentle smile when she had eaten as much as she could, and then he would stay with her for another hour or so while she rested or read a book.

Sometimes Kawalsky would stay while Sam ate, complaining about how Teal'c never brought him lunch. She always seemed to eat more when Kawalsky distracted her with outlandish jokes, and she would take a short nap that wasn't really interrupted by nightmares. The food and the actual bit of rest went a long way in improving Sam's health.

That little bit of time Janet wanted Sam to have alone came after lunch. Jack would pop in after that, just to check up on her, before he would drop a kiss to her cheek, her forehead or her temple. Then Daniel would come in with a file on some weird alien object that one of the SG teams that would keep Sam occupied all afternoon.

All of SG-1 was typically present for dinner and some of the other scientists from Sam's department would stop in to see her during that time. General Hammond made it a point to stop by for a few minutes every day in the evening, as well. Janet even started having her dinner with them—that way, she would be able to spend time with her best friend, as well as keep an eye on her patient.

They would all clear out after that, saying their goodbyes to Sam, hugging her and assuring her that they would see her the next day. That would really be the only time of day that she would smile, as small as it was.

After that, Jack would pull his chair up to the side of her bed. He would reach for Sam's hand, always waiting until she closed the last few inches between them and curled her fingers around his. She always reached for his hand, too, and Jack always held on to that exact moment every day.

Janet made sure that she was the one who always checked on Sam's vitals in the middle of the night. Every single time, no matter what, Jack was always stretched out on Sam's bed, with her curled into his side. He was back in the chair by morning, but in those late hours of the night, he held her… and she let him.

Janet cast a glance at the tray that was next to Sam's bed. There was a half-eaten turkey sandwich, and a bowl of apple slices that only had two left. That was as much as she had eaten in a few days, which must have been why Teal'c was still working his way through his four sandwiches without his usual arched eyebrow in Sam's direction.

"Psst! Jan! Hey, Janet!"

Janet couldn't hold back her laugh when she heard Daniel not-so-quietly whispering from the doorway of Sam's room. She could see Sam's eyebrows shoot up, and it only made Janet's smile widen. She crossed the room to where her significant other was practically bouncing around on the balls of his feet. He had that look on his face, the one he got whenever he made some discover that he just couldn't bear to keep to himself.

Janet was barely at the door when Daniel blurted, "I had an idea!"

"Oh yeah?" He was like a puppy, truly. "Care to share what this idea is for, or do I have to guess?"

"You know that little girl that we found Sam and SG-13 with? Cassandra?"

Janet had preformed the physical on the little girl, and had been keeping an eye on her ever since. She knew her. "Yes, of course."

"I think we should bring her down to visit Sam."

"Okay," Janet said immediately.

"Really?" Daniel grinned at her. He truly was excited about this, and that excitement only increased when he saw that Janet was on board with his idea. "You think it might work?"

"I think we should try anything at this point," Janet told him truthfully. "Part of it is just waiting for her to be ready to talk to us… and the other part is helping her find something that will encourage her to open up."

Daniel quickly squeezed Janet's fingers. "I think it might help Cassie, too."

Over the past week, they had been working to relocate the Nasyans. The search for a new planet had been led by SG-13, and they found a peaceful, habitable planet with the help of another one of their allies, the Nox. Cassie, on the other hand, had thrown what could only be called a temper tantrum when they tried to send her through with the rest of the Nasyans.

Despite being from Hanka, Cassie had grown up on Nasya. She had lost her parents and almost every other adult she knew. There was no one left for Cassie, at least among the Nasyans. She had bonded with SG-13, SG-1, and Sam. General Hammond had recognized that and had allowed Cassie to stay at the SGC while they decided what to do next.

"Cassie knew Jolinar's previous host, and she was also the one who told Sam that she was now host to Jolinar. I have to believe that she might be able to help." Daniel glanced over his shoulder, checking to make sure that there was no one in the hallway behind him. "I'm worried about Jack, and I think… the sooner that Sam starts talking, the sooner he'll be okay. Well, as okay as Jack normally is, anyway."

Janet pressed her lips together and looked back over at Sam. She was watching as Teal'c tore a ham sandwich in half and transferred half of it into his mouth at one time. The corners of her mouth were turned up a little in amusement. Sam was getting better, but it was a slow, careful process. They all knew Jack was struggling, unsure of what the best way to help Sam was. It was heartbreaking to watch, and they all hoped that something would change soon.

* * *

 **thirty-seven.**

If there was anyone who knew trauma, it was Jack O'Neill.

Even before joining the SGC, he had been captured and tortured on multiple occasions. He had seen and done things that most people couldn't have even imagined, and it was all before he had started going off to other planets and fighting aliens. He had taken lives, he had lost people, and he had somehow managed to make it through it all. He would never be able to verbalize how he did it if anyone asked him, though.

He did know that it was important to have someone there, whether or not Sam wanted to talk. So he made sure that someone was wither as often as possible. He wasn't sure if he would ever admit it out loud, but having SG-1 with him during those early years meant the world to him, and he wanted that for Sam.

It killed him that he didn't know exactly what Sam needed, which was why, like Janet, he was willing to try anything. As he stood there in the doorway of Sam's private room, watching the little girl from Nasya take small but sure steps towards Sam's bed.

Daniel, Teal'c, Kawalsky, and Janet were all in the room as well, watching with bated breath. Cassie came around to the side of Sam's bed—the side that she was facing. Her eyes widened, and her hand twitched before she reached out, putting it on the shoulder of the five year old girl standing in front of her.

Cassie smiled gently, with the wisdom beyond someone of her young years. She covered the hand that Sam had placed on her shoulder, and squeezed two of Sam's fingers with her own. Then she pressed her hands on the mattress, hoisting herself up until she was perched next to Sam's hip. Once she was situated, Cassie took one of Sam's hands in her own once again.

"You're going to be okay, Sam," Cassie said, with as much confidence as a five year old girl could convey.

That was what broke Sam.

Tears formed in Sam's eyes and spilled over easily. Her sobs were soundless, but her shoulders shook as she laid there on the bed, clutching Cassie's hand in her own. She pressed her face into the pillow, embarrassed that she was falling apart at the words of a child. Even then, as children seemed to understand, Cassie put her hand on Sam's back and told her that she loved her. That only made Sam cry harder, but she held on to Cassie's hand the entire time.

* * *

Jack entered Sam's room an hour later than he normally did.

It was well after dinner, and Sam probably should have been asleep. There was something about what Jolinar did to her body that made Sam need much more sleep than she usually had—despite knowing that, Sam still fought it as much as she could.

Jolinar's memories—and her presence in Sam's mind—were still fresh, and Sam did whatever she could to keep those memories at bay. Jolinar led one hell of a messed up life, and it made Sam wonder about the rest of the Tok'ra. She knew now, definitively, that they were a group of secret resistance warriors, but did they all have to do such horrible things?

Once Sam saw Jack in the doorway to her private room, she pushed those musings away. That wasn't something that she had to think about when Jack was standing there, watching her with those sad but guarded eyes. Even with everything she had been through over the last two weeks, Sam found herself worrying more about Jack than her own wellbeing. She was sure that Janet would have a field day with that admission, which was precisely why Sam hadn't mentioned it to anyone.

Sam managed a smile for him, and she set aside the report on the device that Daniel had brought her. "Hey," she whispered. After over a week of not really using her voice, it was still rough and a little husky. But it was hers, and it wasn't the mechanical, robotic voice of Jolinar.

Sam held on to that, almost desperately. A part of her wished that she would have spoken sooner, since it was a reminder that she was herself once again, instead of someone that shared her body with a Tok'ra symbiote.

Once Sam had spoken—to Cassie first, then Janet—she hadn't shut up. She had kept up a constant stream of chatter to SG-1, the nurses, and even General Hammond. It was only after Janet had demanded that she rest that Sam had stopped talking.

The naked relief on Jack's face at her greeting was heartbreaking. Once again, Sam wished that she would have said something before. It was only the two of them, and it was gratifying to know that Jack felt he could show her how he really felt. He stopped next to her bed, and didn't hesitate at all as he reached for her hand, lacing his fingers with her own.

Sam frowned down at where Jack was standing next to her hospital bed. "I wish Janet would let me out of this stupid bed," she mumbled.

Jack grinned at that. He was well acquainted with just how strict Janet was with her medical directives. "She just wants to make sure that you're healthy enough to be up and about. There's nothing wrong with that."

Sam's eyes narrowed. "Says the man that busted out of the infirmary three hours after he took an arrow to the thigh."

"It was through and through!" Jack exclaimed hotly, as he always did whenever someone brought that particular incident up. It made Sam giggle, and Jack relaxed, chuckling along with her. It was the first true, real laugh that she had had since Jolinar had inhabited her body, and they both knew it.

"I'm sorry," Sam suddenly blurted, before she could stop herself.

Jack's brow furrowed. "For what?"

Sam thought about brushing it off. Did she really want to explain her complicated feelings to Jack? But even after everything she had been through, she was self-aware enough to know that Jack had been through worse. So she gathered her courage and started to speak, because Jack deserved at least that much from her.

"For not speaking." Sam cleared her throat and dragged her hand through her hair. "For just laying here and watching you guys, without even saying anything, even after you all were so kind to me…" She felt tears burning in her eyes, and Sam blinked them away in frustration. She didn't want to cry now. "I… I didn't know what to do with what Jolinar had left with me. So I didn't… I didn't say anything."

Jack put his hands on his hips and shook his head. Then he perched himself on the side of Sam's bed, next to her hip, as he took her hand and shook his head once again. "You don't need to apologize," he assured her. "You…" Jack looked away, staring at a spot above Sam's head as he spoke. "There are things that I've done, Sam. Things that I don't talk about. And I… _I_ was the one who did them. Those are things that I have to live with, and those are things that I've come to accept about myself. But you… Those memories that you have from Jolinar… they aren't who you are."

Jack squeezed her fingers then, and the flashback hit Sam out of nowhere—it was odd, since it seemed like she was viewing reality and the past in a side-by-side display in her mind. In one part, she could see Nirrti on her knees in front of her, with Sam's own hands wrapped around her head as she snapped her neck—all while under the influence of Jolinar. At the same time, she could see Jack, clutching her fingers and looking at her with open, earnest eyes.

In that moment, Sam Carter knew that she had fallen in love with Jack O'Neill.

It was only proven with the next words Jack had for her. "What Jolinar did before you were host… even what she did while you were her host… it doesn't mean anything. That's not who you are, Sam."

Sam stared down at where Jack's long, strong fingers were laced with hers. Those were hands that had defended, killed, stayed strong in the face of adversity… those were hands that had seen so much and still made it through.

Her own hands, now… they were hands that had killed. True, they had killed a psychotic Goa'uld system lord, and it had all been while she had been under the influence of another alien entity. Even so, Sam had a hard time reconciling the fact that she had killed another living being with her bare hands—even if she hadn't been in control of her own body at the time.

"I…" Sam's voice choked off, and she was thankful. She didn't know what she would do if she had admitted to Jack that she loved him. She wasn't sure about much, but she was absolutely positive in how she felt about Jack O'Neill. Still, Sam knew that after everything that had gone down on Nasya and Hanka… well, it probably wasn't the best time to make declarations of love.

"Thank you," Sam whispered instead.

The smile that Jack gave her made it all worth it.

* * *

"I had an idea," Janet admitted to Daniel.

They were sitting in her office, sharing a bottle of cheap champagne. Once Sam had started speaking, Daniel had left the mountain and had gone to the nearest liquor store, purchasing the four closest champagne bottles he could get his hands on. Two were only worth ten bucks. The other two had been worth fifty dollars and over one hundred dollars, respectively. Daniel was saving those for when Sam was released from the infirmary.

"Oh yeah?" Daniel drained his glass and then reached for the bottle of champagne—the first of the two ten dollar bottles—and took a swig from it. If there was ever a time to get drunk on base, he felt that this might be it. "Care to share, or do I have to guess?"

Those were the words that Janet had said to him less than ten hours ago, and they had worked—which was why Janet had grinned at him. She had drained her own glass, and had held her hand out for the bottle of champagne. There was a very good chance that the two of them were about to get very drunk, given their equally low tolerance for alcohol.

Janet took a long drink from the bottle of champagne, chugging for much longer than someone her size should have been able to do. Finally, she put the bottle down on the desk, pushing it towards Daniel. It was as if she was anticipating his need for more.

"I want to adopt Cassandra," she admitted on a whisper.

"Oh." The word escaped Daniel without much thought, which was unusual for him. In a way, he had been expecting what Janet was saying, but he hadn't thought he'd be hearing it so soon. To his credit, though, he recovered from his shock in less than a second and reached across Janet's desk, taking her hand in his and squeezing. "That's amazing, Jan."

Janet Frasier typically wasn't a woman who was unsure of the choices that she made. In this, though, she couldn't help but have a few reservations, despite how right it felt. "Really?" she whispered. She laced her fingers with Daniel's and returned his affectionate squeeze. "Are you sure?"

"I'm sure," Daniel said firmly.

He knew all about Janet's story, because they had talked about it not long after they had decided to start seeing each other exclusively: Janet couldn't have her own children. It was something that she had bravely been upfront with Daniel about, and it was something that he had accepted. More than that, he had respected and had discussed the possibility of adopting children. They were still a little away from doing that together, but it was comforting to know that it was possible for them to be able to do it together.

"I don't… I don't expect you to want to adopt Cassandra with me," Janet said quickly. It wasn't often that something made the red-headed doctor uncomfortable, so it gave Daniel some idea into just how Janet was feeling. "I wouldn't ever ask you to do that. But… I want to adopt her. I want to give her a place, a family, on Earth. She deserves that."

Daniel thought about protesting. He would adopt Cassie in a heartbeat with Janet, but the truth was, the two of them weren't married—hell, they weren't even living together. They had only been officially seeing each for a little over eight months, and he knew that it was too soon to commit to something so serious. Still, he wanted to make it clear to Janet that he was prepared to be there for Cassie in whatever way she needed, no matter what happened between him and Janet.

Daniel stood up and made his way around the desk, sitting on the edge of it as he drew his doctor into his arms. "You're going to be an amazing mother, Janet Frasier," he told her. "And I love you. I love Cassie, too. Whatever she needs… whatever you need me to be for her… I'm there. I'll do it."

Janet wasn't normally one for her personal displays of affection at work. In the early morning hours, in the safety of her own office, however, she had no problems throwing her arms around Daniel's neck and kissing him as she returned her love for him against his lips.

* * *

Nearly three weeks after Jolinar had died within Sam, Janet had deemed her fit to be released from the infirmary.

There were stipulations, of course. Sam couldn't be on her own, even though she wasn't technically restricted from doing anything. Mentally, however, she couldn't really be on her own. Sam couldn't understand that, and it was an odd realization for her. The memories of an alien entity were affecting how she lived, how she thought, and she needed to monitored because of it.

It was annoying, and it grated on her nerves, and it made Sam's emotions volatile. She kept snapping at her friends, even though there was logical voice in the back of her mind reminding her that they were just being extra attentive because they were worried about her. It was difficult for Sam to be as emotionally vulnerable as she was now that Jolinar had lived and died within her, and she was irked that she was struggling with it so much.

It was a Friday afternoon that Daniel found himself changing into his civilian clothes with Jack in SG-1's locker room. Jack was preparing to take Sam to his house, and the rest of SG-1 would be by at least two hours after they had settled in, for dinner and a movie night. Instead of talking about Sam—because God only knew that they had exhausted that subject—Daniel spoke about something that he was sure Jack had no idea about.

"Janet wants to adopt Cassandra," Daniel admitted.

Jack shut his locker door and turned to his friend. He wasn't surprised at the admission, honestly. He knew that the little girl spent much of her time in the infirmary when she wasn't visiting Sam, and he knew that Janet had taken it upon herself to keep an eye on her. Jack was also familiar with Janet's inability to have children, and he knew that this was the best chance for Janet, at the moment. She had always wanted to be a mother, and this… well, it was something that Janet was uniquely qualified for.

Not being one to beat around the bush, Jack asked the obvious question: "Are you going to adopt Cassie, too?"

"Not yet," Daniel said. There was a smile on his face, a secretive one that Jack had seen before. It was Daniel's happy smile—the one he had where he was truly content with his life and the choices he had made. It was rare for him to have that particular smile, which made it all the more special.

And that was enough. Cassie was going to get another mother, and soon… probably sooner than anyone really thought… she would get a father, too.

Not only that, but she had a family full of surrogate aunts and uncles that would help her and be there for her no matter what life had for her. Despite everything that had happened, Cassandra—soon-to-be-Frasier—came through it all. That was a miracle, and that was something that they would be able to hold on to.

* * *

 **thirty-eight.**

Sam appreciated what everyone was doing for her.

Really, she did.

Still, she couldn't help but wonder if everyone was sick of looking after her.

She was back at her house, and all of SG-1 had hovered over her as she settled back in. All four men had insisted on taking her back and staying with her on that first night, because "no one got left behind."

Sam tried to tell them that she didn't think that philosophy applied once she was safely in her own home—besides, she wasn't officially part of SG-1, anyway. She didn't need them hovering around her, even if she appreciated (and secretly found amusing) their attentiveness.

"Come on," Kawalsky told her as he unloaded the Chinese food he had purchased. He had gotten two of orders of all over Sam's favorites, along with seven orders of won ton soup so that she would have extra comfort food for later—and that was in addition to all of the food that SG-1 normally ordered "You're SG-1's nerd, remember? We have to keep you well-fed, or you won't help us save the world. And we have to keep you well-hydrated, too."

He pushed Sam's favorite beer towards her, and she took the bottle that he offered her. After all, Janet had never told Sam that she couldn't consume alcohol. Sam knew that getting drunk wouldn't solve any of her problems, but a nice buzz would at least make them seem a little bit better.

"That's sweet," Sam told Kawalsky with a grin. She had no problem with being called SG-1's nerd, because it was true, after all. It was nice to know that some things would never change.

"We have this bottle of champagne, too," Daniel said as he held it out. It was the fifty dollar bottle—Jack and Sam didn't need to know that Janet and Daniel were saving the extra expensive bottle for something much more special. "You're home now, and we thought that it would be nice to celebrate…"

Sam only had four champagne flutes in her possession, but it was fine. They used wine glasses for the rest, and they toasted to health: to SG-1's health, to her health, to Cassie's health and the rest of the Nasyans' health. Sam had tears in her eyes with each toast, since she was so grateful to be there.

During that first toast—the toast to Sam's health and well-being, along with how grateful they all were that she had returned to them—that was when Sam had decided that she had been incredibly lucky.

She didn't know if it was grace, or a higher power, or luck, or something else entirely—but somehow, she had made it through being host to a Tok'ra, along with being attacked by a Goa'uld assassin. It made her wonder about those other SGC members that had been possessed by a Goa'uld. Had Sam been lucky enough to survive with her mind fully intact because her experience had been with a Tok'ra, as opposed to an actual Goa'uld? Was she actually lucky? Would anyone really be able to handle the memories that Jolinar left within her?

The Tok'ra were no picnic, and Sam knew that now. During those first few days, when Sam still hadn't been speaking, Daniel had complied as much research as he could on the Tok'ra. Sam knew enough about them now to know that they weren't the warm, fuzzy type, and that she would have Jolinar's horrendous memories for the rest of her life. Still, she had hoped that she would be able to avoid talking about them, because they weren't _her_ actual memories. Why should she have to talk about something that she hadn't actually done?

Even if Sam remembered doing horrific things, as if she done them with her own hands… why should she have to discuss it with someone?

Why would she have to talk about snapping Nirrti's neck? The hands that had snapped that neck had been her own, but she had no control over her body. Should Sam have some remorse over that? Because she wasn't sure that she did.

Sam had read the reports. She knew that the host had no control over what the symbiote decided to do. When Jolinar had snapped Nirrti's neck, Sam knew that they (because it had been Jolinar controlling Sam's body, but Sam had feelings too, and Jolinar had taken them into account, so it had been the two of them, no matter what anyone said) had killed the host as well.

No one knew just how long Nirrti had been in that particular host. Hell, no one knew if any of the host was even left. Sam wasn't even sure if the host had been there when she had put her hands on either side of Nirrti's head and snapped her neck—and she wasn't sure that she wanted to know, anyway.

So Sam had decided that she was lucky. She was fortunate, and she was loved, and she had a wonderful family that tried to grasp what she had been through, even if they didn't fully understand it. Sam loved them in turn, and she appreciated them.

This was the beginning. And it was only going to get better from here.

* * *

 **I am honestly completely thrilled every time someone reviews or favorites or alerts this story. It means so much to me that people are enjoying my little foray into an AU SG-1. Thanks for reading!**


	11. if you believe in me, i'll still believe

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything.**

 **The chapter title comes from the song "Holland Road" by Mumford and Sons.**

* * *

 **thirty-nine.**

The scream that caught in Sam's throat was what woke her up.

She shot up, staring up at the ceiling as she dragged her hands through her hair. Her breathing was too fast, and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't catch her breath and she couldn't make her thudding heart slow down.

Sam hated that she woke up with every nightmare she had. And she hated that every time, without fail, Jack woke up with her.

Like clockwork, she felt his hand slide over her back. Like she always did, she relaxed into his touch, leaning in to him and seeking the support that he offered. She didn't want to need it, though, because she didn't want to have the nightmares.

The nightmares meant she had a problem, that Jolinar was still affecting her even now, two whole months after she had died. She didn't want to have this problem hanging over her, so she much rather preferred acting as though it had never happened.

"Damn it!" Sam yelled, unable to hold back her volatile response. She snatched her pillow up and threw it across the room. It was wholly unsatisfying when the pillow simply flopped to the floor, and Sam resisted the urge to throw something much more breakable.

"Was it another nightmare?" Jack asked as his hand stroked over her back. He rubbed soothingly through the material of the shirt she had been wearing to sleep—it happened to be one of his old Air Force Academy t-shirts.

"No," Sam snapped immediately. In the very next instant, she felt a rush of regret for speaking to Jack so harshly.

He had been nothing but helpful ever since she had made it back to Earth, even when Jolinar was still alive. He had been there for her every step of the way, holding her while she cried, comforting her after she woke up from her nightmares, staying with her when she was too afraid to be by herself, even though she didn't want to admit it out loud.

After that first night, when they had all consumed way too much Chinese food and drank too much beer, Jack had essentially moved in with her. He was there when she needed him, making sure that she ate and continued to take care of herself.

The best part of what Jack was doing was that he knew she didn't necessarily need someone to take care of her. Samantha Carter was perfectly capable of looking after herself, even after the terrible trauma she had experienced. Jack knew that, so he knew when she needed her space just as he knew when she needed someone to lean on.

If there was anyone who could even remotely understand what Sam had been through, what she was now feeling, it was Jack O'Neill. He had been through some pretty horrific things, all before he had even joined the SGC, and he had come through it stronger and better. She held on to that hope, so tightly that somewhere in the back of her scientific mind, she knew there was some sort of issue with that.

Sam didn't much feel like being rational at the moment, however. Instead, she just felt… tired. It was all too much. She wanted to go to sleep, but that meant having nightmares, and that wasn't something she wanted to deal with, either. She dragged her hands through her hair, then, and drew her knees up to her chest.

"I'm sorry," Sam whispered, speaking to her knees instead of Jack.

Jack shook his head, even though Sam wasn't looking at him. "You don't need to be."

There was a long beat of silence, where Sam still stared at her knees as she inhaled deeply. Finally, she sighed and tilted her head, looking at Jack's shoulder, instead of his face. "Yes. Yes, I do."

"Sam…"

"No, Jack. I'm sorry. I am." She wasn't just apologizing for her snappish attitude moments ago. She was apologizing for everything else, too. The long, sleepless nights, the pain of watching her go through her initial torture and near death at the hands of the ashrak… the lack of physical intimacy the two had shared since the whole thing had taken place… Sam was sorry for all of it. And suddenly, she needed Jack to know it.

Jack drew her into his arms then, slowly, carefully. Sam wanted to hate that he handle her with such care, but in the back of her mind, she was grateful for it. He was easy with her, tender, slow in a way that made her feel safe.

Her head was tucked under his chin, and his large, warm hand stroked up and down her back in a soothing caress that made Sam close her eyes. She sank fully into him, relishing the feeling of his arms around her, even as she tried to tell herself that she didn't _need_ it… but she _wanted_ it, all the same.

Jack's lips skimmed over her temple, and she was struck with the thought that that was the most intimate he allowed himself to be with her. A kiss to the temple, or her forehead, or her cheek, or the top of her head… sometimes, even, he would press a brief kiss to her lips. He was so achingly gentle with her, careful not to push her too far.

Sam was seeing a therapist, of course, one that the SGC had assigned to her. Dr. McKenzie was okay, but she only shared the most basic facts of what happened with him, simply because she had to. The deeper feelings… those, she saved for Janet. And she was glad, because Janet was proving to be one of her biggest supporters, her biggest help.

Sam told Janet that she wanted Jack to kiss her, to hold her, to make love to her like he meant it. And Janet said the same thing to her, every time: Jack was giving her space, giving her time to heal. He didn't want to push her, didn't want to make her do anything that she wasn't ready for.

In the logical, calm part of Sam's mind, she understood it, and was even thankful for it. Part of her knew that she needed that space, that her mind needed time to heal as much as her body did. She wasn't even ready to spend a full twenty-four hours on her own yet, let alone allow herself to be vulnerable enough to be intimate with Jack again.

The other part of her—the highly emotional part that had been ever closer to the surface as time went on—just wanted to forget what happened. She wanted Jack to make her forget, even if the relief was only fleeting. Sam wondered if it was worth it, to take that step before either of them were ready, just so she could have a moment where she didn't remember what happened to her.

It probably wasn't the best time to contemplate her sexual relationship with Jack right after she had another horrific nightmare. It was the middle of the night, and they were both still exhausted, even after hours of sleep. It seemed that no matter how much rest either of them got, they were both still beyond tired.

"I'm sorry," Sam said again, because it was the only thing she could think to say. It was yet another struggle that she had to come to terms with—being at a loss for words. Often, she found that there was too much going on in her mind, too much that wasn't even hers, and she couldn't find the words to properly express what she was feeling. Sam didn't think that she could even begin to quantify what she was feeling, let alone express it.

Jack didn't bother to tell her that she had no need to apologize again, because he knew that his words would be going in one ear and out the other. He didn't know exactly what she was going through, of course, but he had seen enough and done enough all on his own. Jack knew what it was like to feel closed off from everyone else, to believe that there wasn't a person on earth who could possibly understand what he was thinking.

He was very familiar with _that_ , so Jack knew when not to push. Instead, he pulled Sam closer and pressed his lips to her temple again. Sam tilted her head up and managed to catch Jack's lips with her own just before he pulled away. She curled her fingers into the front of his t-shirt, keeping him close to her.

Sam felt Jack hesitate, felt him try to pull away, for only a brief second. But she held on, pressing closer to him until she was basically in his lap. He gave in, then, sliding his hand into her hair to cradle the back of her head as his lips opened under hers.

Jack's lips moved hard and passionately against hers, and he pulled her tightly against his body. Sam had a few wonderful, blissful seconds, where her body was alive with pleasure and nothing else mattered but the feel of Jack's lips on hers and his hands on her body.

As quickly as it started, it was over. Sam suddenly found herself wrapped in Jack's arms once again, with her face pressed to his shoulder as they both tried to catch their breath. Sam allowed him to hold her, and she focused on slowing her heart rate down with each inhale. After a minute or two, Sam finally pulled back enough to look Jack in the eye.

He saw the look on her face and accurately guessed what she was thinking. "Sam…" He trailed off, pressing his lips together as he tried to figure out the best way to word what needed to be said.

Sam sighed and pushed the messy, blonde strands of hair away from her face. "You don't need to say anything, Jack," she finally said. "I know. Believe me, I know."

"Sam, I…" The urge to tell her that he loved her was there, suddenly, and Jack wasn't quite sure where it had come from. Ever since his conversation with Janet in the halls of the SGC a little over two months ago, Jack couldn't stop thinking about just how right his friend had been.

He loved Sam, it was true. They were nowhere near ready to take that step, especially not after everything that had happened. They had a lot to figure out—together and separately—before those words were said out loud, even if the feelings were still there anyway. Jack knew that and stopped talking once again, instead choosing to press his forehead against Sam's. He closed his eyes and breathed her in, taking comfort in the fact that despite those insurmountable odds, she was still here, with him.

What Jack didn't know was that Sam had long ago figured out that Jack was a man of action. If he had anything important to say, he expressed with his actions, instead of with words. Sam knew that everything that he had done for her over the past few months—and the things he had done before that, even—all added up to love.

Sam knew that she loved Jack, too. She wasn't quite sure when it happened, because it seemed like it had always been there. She had no problem being the first person to say it, but she didn't want Jack to think that it was an overly-emotional confession due to everything that they had been through.

So she kept those feelings to herself, and instead settled in Jack's arms as they lay back down again. Sleep would come soon, and hopefully, it would be without nightmares.

* * *

"Do you… do you want to talk about your nightmares?"

Sam almost dropped the coffee mug she was holding. She managed to catch it just before it slipped from her suddenly numb fingers. She took a long sip from it, and then held on to the mug like it was a lifeline.

"Um… what?" she finally managed intelligently.

Jack cleared his throat and looked just about as awkward as Sam felt. "Your nightmares," he repeated. "Do you want to talk about them?"

Jack knew that the question he was asking was highly sensitive, but Sam could see that his eyes were earnest and open. He meant it—if she wanted to talk, he was there to listen, to anything that she had to say.

"Why…" Sam managed to look Jack in the eye for exactly three seconds before she looked back down into her coffee mug. There was something about that familiar brown liquid, lightened by the bit of French vanilla creamer she had poured into it, something comforting. It helped to anchor her. "What makes you think I want to talk about them? I mean… what do you think I'm having nightmares about? They're not even my memories, so…" Sam laughed, trying to brush off the nightmares she had at least four times a week. Her laugh was dry and bitter, though, and it was easy to see through.

"Well, it was a lot for you," Jack said with a shrug of his shoulders. He hoped that if he stayed casual during this conversation, she would open up to him a little bit. "We know that you were at least partially conscious of what happened while we were on Nirrti's ship. And there was the whole thing with the assrak—"

"Ashrak," Sam corrected automatically, even as her mind was racing and her heart beat just a little too fast in her chest.

"Whatever," Jack acknowledged with a wave of his hand. "The point is, that's a horror movie of epic proportions for most normal people. That fact that it's real for you… well… your nightmares are completely understandable ."

Sam stared at Jack for a long moment, and she gripped the coffee mug so tightly that it actually slipped from her grip. The ceramic mug shattered on the tile floor, but neither Sam nor Jack seemed to notice. They just watched one another, waiting for a reaction that neither was sure of.

"Those are _Jolinar's_ nightmares," Sam finally said. Her voice was so low, it was nearly a whisper. In the silence of Sam's house, Jack could hear it, despite the fact that he was on the opposite side of the kitchen. "They're not mine."

"Sam, I'm just saying—"

"They're not _mine_ ," Sam repeated. She suddenly realized that her eyes were burning with tears, and she blinked rapidly in an attempt to keep them at bay. She didn't want to cry, not now. She had no desire to cry, and she hated the fact that the tears would appear, unbidden, and would fall without her permission. "The nightmares aren't mine," Sam said once again.

Maybe if she said it enough, it would be true. Maybe it would all go away if she kept telling everyone that the nightmares were full of memories that weren't actually hers. There was no reason that someone else's memories should affect her so much, and she refused to let it take control of her life. The old saying ran through her mind, as tacky as it was: fake it until you make it.

She planned on faking it until people believed that she was okay, because by then, it might actually be true. It couldn't be this bad forever, could it?

Even the nightmares that Sam had that involved Jolinar's past life weren't something that she discussed much. Jack had already done so much for her, and she refused to have him shoulder yet another one of her issues. He didn't need that, and he didn't deserve that, even though he reminded her often that he was there for her.

It was just another reason that Sam loved Jack so much. And it was also why she refused to admit to him that she had nightmares that were all her own—nightmares that involved just how she felt when Jolinar had taken over her body.

* * *

 **forty.**

Whipping around, Sam drove her fist into the punching bag hanging in front of her. She sucked in a quick breath and then arced her leg up, sending her foot cleanly into the bag. She delivered a textbook right hook to the punching bag after that, and then she stepped back, breathing hard as she wiped the sweat from her face.

Kawalsky was holding the other side of the bag for her, keeping it steady as she railed against it. "Come on, Sam," he coerced. "You have more to give than that. Show me what you've got!"

Sam's eyes narrowed at the man that had dedicated his free time to training her—or, as he called it, getting all of her pent-up aggression out. "What do you think I've been trying to do, Kawalsky?" she demanded.

Kawalsky was unfazed by her snappish attitude. "You don't want to know what I've been thinking," he told her. "But I do know that I have a ten year old niece who can kick box better than you can. So…"

"Damn it, Kawalsky!" Sam spun again and launched her right fist into the punching bag, hitting it so hard that Kawalsky actually staggered backwards. He held on to the bag, though, and steadied it again for another hit.

"That's what I'm talking about!" Kawalsky exclaimed. "That, right there!"

A small smile tilted the corners of Sam's lips even as she launched another attack on the punching bag. Kawalsky, finally satisfied with the way their training session was going, held the bag steady and encouraged her.

They had started training together three weeks ago, and it was something that Kawalsky was already pretty familiar with. Kawalsky had been there every step of the way with Jack while he had been trying to get through all of the horrible, unfortunate things that had happened to him. First, there was everything he had experienced as a black ops operative within the Air Force. Then, his marriage with his wife had disintegrated. In the middle of their separation, his son had died a horrific, accidental death. For nearly a year after that, Jack was near suicidal. Joining the SGC had helped him immensely, but Jack had still gone through things, faced pain and heartbreak, even after everything he had endured and overcome.

So Kawalsky knew what it was like to be there for someone who needed help but didn't want to ask for it outright. Jack, and Sam, and the rest of SG-1 were his family, and he was never going to forget that. So when he felt that Sam was ready, and when the opportunity had presented itself, Kawalsky had jumped at the chance to offer his help.

Jack was definitely the best hand-to-hand fighter they had (from Earth, anyway), but Kawalsky was a close second. Jack was busy taking care of Sam emotionally, and the rest of the men on SG-1 knew that it would have been too much to expect Jack to take care of _everything_.

In this particular area—in teaching Sam how to defend herself, while at the same time helping her to release some of the pent up aggression she held on to—Kawalsky knew that he could help. This was easy. It was easy to be there for Sam in this way, but Kawalsky was also smart enough to know that Jack was letting him have this. He didn't mind, though, because he was happy to help his friend out in whatever way he could.

"Can we take a break?" Sam asked suddenly.

"Sure," Kawalsky answered immediately. Sam's energy levels fluctuated frequently ever since her blending with Jolinar. Her body was all out of whack, and months later, it still hadn't regulated. It was yet another thing that constantly frustrated Sam, given the hours she used to work in the lab. She needed an actual full night's sleep—and then some—to make it through the day.

The fact that her body (and her mind) needed so much rest really irked Sam. She was more than aware that she let her body's limitations get to her too much, but she couldn't seem to stop her overly-emotional reactions. Truth be told, she sometimes wondered why the guys of SG-1 simply accepted her outbursts, instead of pushing her to get over it.

"I'm hungry," Sam admitted, and she was a little bit surprised to find that it was one hundred percent true.

Kawalsky arched an eyebrow at her, and it made Sam think that he was doing a Teal'c impression. He probably was doing one on purpose, just to see if it amused her. It did, and a small huff of laughter escaped her.

"Really," Sam assured Kawalsky. "I am. I want… I think I want a tuna fish sandwich for lunch."

It was an odd craving, but it wasn't one that Sam was going to question. For some reason, she desperately wanted a tuna fish sandwich with pickles on it. It wasn't a new craving—she had loved tuna fish ever since she was a little girl. But it was the first time she had wanted her favorite childhood food since her blending with Jolinar, and it was something that she held on to.

"Okay," Kawalsky said easily as he stripped off his boxing gloves. "Let's go to the commissary." He knew that it was turkey sandwich day, instead of tuna fish, but he had no doubt that he could get someone to make Sam's favorite sandwich for her. There wasn't a person in the SGC who didn't know what happened to Sam, from General Hammond down to the lowest civilian that they hired.

Every single person knew that Dr. Samantha Carter was to be respected, to be given whatever she needed to get through this trauma. It only served to show what an amazing place the SGC was, and Kawalsky warmed at the fact that he got to serve at a facility that cared so much about its employees and service men and women.

Just as Kawalsky had predicted, they made a tuna fish sandwich especially for Sam in the commissary. She accepted the sandwich and grinned at the extra pickles they had piled on to the sandwich, along with the two bags of chips and the pack of cosmic brownies.

"Cosmic brownies?" Sam asked as she took the fifth seat that SG-1 had managed to squeeze at their regular table. "Really?" She picked up the package, and the plastic crinkled under fingers as she inspected the rainbow chunks embedded in the brownies. It was one of the childhood treats that had always stuck with her, and it was comforting to have it after such an intense training session .

"You're going to share, right?" Jack asked as he settled himself into the seat next to her. He had two turkey sandwiches with cheese on his plate, but only one bag of chips and a bowl of pudding for dessert. Sam admitted that the commissary's pudding was actually pretty good, but she wouldn't trade her cosmic brownies for anything.

"Are you kidding me?" Nearly done with her sandwich (she really had been starving), Sam drew the cosmic brownies to her chest. "There is no way in hell that I'm going to share these."

"You're not even going to give me a bite?" Jack pouted at her, even as he dipped his spoon into his pudding . How the man could eat so many sweets in one sitting was beyond her.

"No," Sam told him. Just to prove her point, she opened up the plastic wrapper and bit into the brownies. Even though they were hardly real brownies, there was just something so insanely good about the fudgy bits of brownie and the rainbow-covered chunks of chocolate sprinkles.

Daniel snorted into bowl of Jell-O at the way Sam was slowly enjoying her brownies in order to tease Jack. Daniel was an easy target, so Jack balled up his napkin and launched it as his friend. Daniel didn't even bother to try and hide his laughter anymore, and he threw the napkin back at Jack. He somehow managed to hit Jack's bottle of water, knocking it over and sending it spilling all over the table.

Sam shrieked and shoved her chair back from the table, doing her best to save her brownies from the water. Kawalsky sat, calmly eating from his own bag of chips, as if this happened every day. The spilled water came dangerously close to Teal'c's tray and he looked up at his teammates, giving them a look that plainly stated if his food got ruined, they were all dead.

Seeing the look on Teal'c's face, they all froze. Jack had a piece of bread in his hand, ready to launch it back over the table, while Daniel already had his hands in front of his face in an attempt to block it.

Then Sam started laughing. It was true, real, honest-to-goodness laughter, and it was something that they hadn't heard often over the past two months. The four men of SG-1 exchanged a look, and they all quickly to the same conclusion: if acting like idiots would get Sam to laugh like that again, then they would act like idiots.

So Teal'c pulled his tray off of the table and onto the safety of his lap, where he continued to eat steadily. Daniel picked up a cube of Jell-O and threw it at Jack before he could throw the bread, which of course made Jack ball up the bread and aim at Daniel's face. The dense, wadded up bread hit Daniel's face with perfect accuracy, sending his glasses askew.

Not to be left out, Kawalsky scooped up some pudding with his spoon and bent it back, sending it flying across the table, where it hit Jack's chest. All the while, Sam was unable to contain her laughter.

* * *

Once a week, Sam had her session with Dr. McKenzie, and then she would get a checkup from Janet, just to make sure that her body was returning to normal. Janet was now confident that they could move her checkups to once a month, but she still wanted to keep an eye on the protein marker that had developed in Sam's blood. Cassandra had the same marker, so Janet nearly positive that the protein marker wouldn't affect Sam too much.

After her latest session, Sam found herself headed towards Daniel's office. She would often seek Daniel out after her sessions with McKenzie. If she didn't talk, she would just sit with him, and Daniel let her sit with him for as long as she needed. And when she did talk, Daniel listened, and offered a unique insight.

All of SG-1 had been affected by the Goa'uld, but Daniel had a one-of-a-kind perspective on what it meant to lose something to the Goa'uld. Other than Teal'c he was the first member of SG-1 to come face-to-face with the Goa'uld, to fight them and lose, and be heartbroken. Daniel had been there for it all: when the wife he met on Abydos had been chosen to be host to Apophis's mate, and he was there when Sha're had been killed at the hands of Apophis in a fit of rage.

The Tok'ra weren't the same as the Goa'uld, of course, but Sam had some of Jolinar's memories, now. Jolinar had been one of the best Tok'ra operatives, which meant she had interacted closely with many system lords. Jolinar had seen and done some pretty horrifying things, and sometimes Sam would talk to Daniel about them. Sometimes she wouldn't.

It was good to know that she had someone like Daniel to talk to.

Sam settled herself in a chair across from Daniel's work table. He was busy doing a translation for SG-9, and he continued to work as Sam sat quietly, thinking about her latest session with McKenzie. She reached forward and picked up a small, stone tablet that had been on Daniel's work table, turning it over and over in her hands.

Daniel smiled, but he tucked his chin to hide it. Samantha Carter was perhaps the only person that he allowed to fiddle with the things in his lab. He thought of the first time Jack had witnessed Sam picking up something on Daniel's desk without getting yelled at, and chuckled to himself at the way Jack had spluttered indignantly. Jack demanded to know why Sam was allowed to touch the things in Daniel's lab without getting yelled at; Daniel immediately informed Jack that he was prone to breaking the expensive and rare things he had, so it was better for Jack to keep his hands off them entirely.

Even with Sam's absentminded fiddling, she was always careful not to break anything. And hell, if it helped Sam in some way, he would let her do whatever she wanted.

"I don't know how helpful it is when I talk to Dr. McKenzie," Sam admitted quietly. Her eyes were trained on the tablet she was still flipping over in her hands. "I don't… I feel like I can't talk to him. Not about anything important, anyway. Not about anything that actually… anything I need to really talk about."

He had been waiting for Sam to admit that for weeks. Daniel nodded his head slowly, and part of him felt a little bad for the resident psychologist of the SGC. They went to their required appointments with McKenzie, but none of them ever really talked about the problems they had. They said just enough to get cleared, and then they solved their problems other ways—or they didn't.

Daniel, Janet, the rest of SG-1, their friends, and especially Jack, would never let Sam be one of the ones that didn't solve her problems. They would figure out a way to help her, even if she didn't want to talk to McKenzie anymore.

"Have you thought about talking to Teal'c about any of this?" Daniel suggested gently. "I'm sure, with all of Jolinar's memories, you probably have a lot of questions about the Goa'uld and the Tok'ra. If there's anyone who can help with this, it's probably him."

It was an idea that had occurred to Sam before, but part of her was afraid of the answers that Teal'c would certainly give her. She said as much to Daniel, who reached over the work table and squeezed Sam's arm gently.

"The nightmares have been getting worse," Sam admitted quietly.

"What part of the nightmares?" Daniel asked. "Jolinar's, or yours?"

He knew the difference between when Sam had nightmares from Jolinar's memories, and when she nightmares from her own memories. The nightmares from Jolinar's leftover memories left her tired but frustrated. Sam was annoyed more often than not after those nightmares, uncomfortable that someone else's memories were affecting her so much.

After the nightmares she had that were her own, however—from when she was conscious of what Jolinar was doing while in her body—there was a sickly pallor to her skin and dark, intense circles under her eyes. She was quiet, following the day after one of those nightmares, and spent at least the first half of the day not saying anything until she was directly spoken to.

Sam looked away from Daniel, staring at one of the tribal masks he had decorating his lab. "Mine." Her voice was barely above a whisper. "They're… I mean, they're not even really nightmares. It's like I'm reliving what happened all over again, and it's… it's…" She trailed off, unable to put into words just how much her own nightmares were affecting her. In fact, she often preferred Jolinar's nightmares, because Sam could rationalize those—they weren't her own, and it was easier to push those aside.

Daniel gave her a knowing look. "You keep thinking about the confrontation that Jolinar had with Nirrti on the ship, don't you?"

Sam honestly wasn't surprised that Daniel had figured it out so quickly. "I snapped her neck," she whispered. She was staring down at her own hands, clenching and unclenching her fingers as the memory ran through her mind. "I put my hands on either side of her head, and her neck… it just snapped so easily."

"Sam." Setting aside his translation, Daniel walked around the work table and crouched in front of her, taking her hands in his. "That wasn't you."

A watery, sad laugh escaped from Sam, and she hated that tears were burning in her eyes once again. "They were my hands, Daniel. And I knew what was happening, and I couldn't… I couldn't stop it. I didn't want to kill her, but I'm not… I'm not sad that Nirrti is dead, either." She took a deep breath and pressed her lips together. "What kind of person does that make me?"

"It makes you human," Daniel assured her. "Nirrti… Nirrti was a monster. And taking a life is never easy, but one less monster in the universe means that there are that many more lives that are saved."

Four years ago, Daniel never could have imagined saying something like that—justifying the loss of life, of any life. Ever since joining the SGC, however, he understood that sometimes, that loss was better for the greater good. It was never easy when things like that happened, even if that person or alien or being was horrible—it was the remorse that kept them separated from the monsters out there. The knowledge that they cared about life, no matter whose life it was, set them apart.

"Damn it," Sam breathed. She dropped her head forward, covering her face with her hands.

Not even a minute later, Jack appeared in the doorway of Daniel's lab. He knew exactly where she went after her sessions with McKenzie and her appointments with Janet, and he always gave her more than enough time. This time, for whatever reason, Jack was earlier than usual. He was just in time to see Sam's distress, and Daniel attempting to comfort Sam.

Seeing Jack in the doorway, Daniel squeezed Sam's hands once again and waited until Jack was close enough to take Sam into his arms before stepping away. Daniel and Jack simply exchanged a look, but it conveyed all that either man needed to know. Daniel nodded his head and left his own lab, shutting the blast door behind him in order to give them privacy.

"Talk to me, Sam," Jack encouraged as he drew her into his arms and stroked his hands over her back. "Tell me what's on your mind."

She shook her head, closing her eyes tightly against the tears that were now falling as she pressed her face to Jack's chest. "Jack, you don't… you don't need to know what I'm thinking about. It's… it's too much."

"Hey." Pulling back just enough to see her face, Jack brought his hand up to cup her cheek. "Why don't you let me decide what's too much and what isn't?"

Staring into Jack's eyes, Sam knew that he was telling the truth. With tears trickling from her eyes, the words escaped her: "I… I keep thinking about how I killed Nirrti. Or how Jolinar killed Nirrti. You know. Whatever."

Sam, as a rule, generally didn't use the word 'whatever.' It clued Jack in to just how much this was all affecting Sam—not that he wouldn't have been able to guess already. All he had to do was take a look at the dark circles under her eyes to know how upset she had been

"You didn't kill Nirrti," Jack told her.

"I know," Sam said. "But… I did, also."

Jack had killed in the past, long before he had ever joined the SGC. It had been under the orders of his government, given by people that he had trusted. Even though he had a responsibility, was doing the right thing in a war for his country, he felt it in his soul every time he took a life. Sam's situation was unique, but Jack understood it all the same. He might not get the alien possession, and the whole thing with having someone else's memories, but he did understand this.

Sam sniffled hard and wiped at the tears under her eyes. "I'm fine," she said, suddenly. "It's… It's fine. I'm fine."

"I know you are," Jack said. He smoothed his hand over her blonde hair, tucking a few errant strands behind her ear. Tucked in the safety of Daniel's lab, he had no problem leaning forward and pressing his lips to her forehead.

"It wasn't me that did it, and I know that," Sam said. Logically, she knew it. Daniel's words echoed in her mind, as well. "And I know it was the right thing. So I don't know why…" Another tear slipped down her cheek, and this time, Jack was the one who swiped it away.

"There's a cost when we take a life. No matter what. I know." Jack drew her against his chest once again, holding her so that her ear was pressed over his heart. "I've done it before." He kept up the comforting strokes over her hair and back, and he ducked down so he was speaking in her other ear. "You'll be okay."

Exhaling slowly, Sam nodded her head. She closed her eyes and allowed the sound of Jack's steady heartbeat to comfort her.

* * *

 **forty-one.**

Ever since they had returned from Nasya and their subsequent capture, Sam had met with SG-13 once a week for lunch. A bond had been created between the five of them, and even though it was one born through trauma and hurt, it was still there. Sam enjoyed these lunch meetings, and she knew that it helped her on a psychological and emotional level.

"Sorry I'm late," Wells said as he rushed into the commissary. He still had a slight limp, but he had healed remarkably from the injury that he had sustained when they had been captured on Nasya. "I can't stay for very long, but I just wanted you guys to know…"

He took his phone out his pocket and opened it to a photo, and then slid it towards the center of the table. The rest of SG-13 and Sam leaned over the phone, all of them surprised to see a picture of a newborn baby girl.

Of course, Sam was the first to connect the dots. "Oh my god," Sam breathed, unused to the sudden surge of excitement and emotion she felt when she looked at the picture of the little baby girl. "Your wife went into labor!"

"Yeah." The grin on Wells' face was almost too big to contain. "My daughter was born two days ago."

"Well, don't leave us hanging," Dixon said. He had four kids of his own, and his wife was newly pregnant with their fifth. "What's her name?"

"Lyla Janet," Wells told them. There was a note of emotion in his own voice, his eyes shining as he revealed the name of his newborn daughter.

The rest of SG-13 sat back, all of them smiling at the name of their teammate's new daughter. It was Sam who once again suddenly had tears in her eyes, but this time, they were happy tears. She allowed them to fall as she studied the picture of the tiny baby girl. "You named her after Janet?"

"Yeah." Wells smiled and picked up his phone, grinning down at the picture of his daughter. "Marci heard that Janet saved me when we came back from Nasya, and she was pretty insistent. I couldn't say no, and Marci was right, anyway."

"It's perfect," Balinsky said, for once not going overboard with his reaction.

"We thought the baby was going to be a boy, you know," Wells said. "But it turns out… she's a girl. Lyla is a family name, but…"

"It's beautiful," Sam said with a sniffle. Suddenly, thinking about the new baby girl that had her best friend's name, the world seemed a little better and a little brighter. It was hopeful, and it was wonderful.

* * *

Running her fingers through her blonde hair, Sam settled back into her bed as she watched Jack change into his pajamas. There was something thoroughly enjoyable about watching Jack strip down and change into faded plaid pajama bottoms and a t-shirt. She loved watching the way his muscles rippled underneath his smooth, tan skin, and she knew that he knew that she was watching him.

There hadn't been any nightmares for the past two nights, and Sam was hoping that the third night would be the charm. After the past few days, when she had spoken to Daniel and Teal'c, it seemed to help quite a bit. The news of Wells' new daughter helped as well, and Sam wasn't going to question her sudden lack of nightmares.

"Did you hear that Wells' wife gave birth to their daughter?" Sam asked as she tied her hair back in a loose ponytail.

Jack smiled. He loved babies, and the news of a new addition to the SGC family always spread quickly. "Yeah. Her name is Lyla. Wells was showing everyone pictures in the locker room earlier today."

"Did you hear her full name?"

The smile on Jack's face widened, and he climbed into bed next to Sam. "Lyla Janet," he said, repeating the name that Wells had proudly told everyone in the locker room only a few hours ago. "He told Janet himself earlier today, but he's going to bring the baby and Marci in later this week to meet everyone."

"We get to see the baby?" Sam asked with a gasp. Like many other people out there, she had a soft spot for babies.

"Yeah, of course," Jack said, amused that she was having such a reaction to the mention of a baby.

"This is… this is wonderful," Sam admitted. She took Jack's hand, sliding her slender fingers along his longer, stronger ones. "This baby, after everything we've all been through… it's kind of like a miracle, right?"

"Right," Jack agreed. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close, so that she was tucked into his side. "A miracle."

Sam played with the soft, worn fabric of his t-shirt, keeping her eyes focused on where her other hand was still wrapped in his. "It's good, isn't it? To know that after all of those horrible things… after the attack and our capture and the injuries and Jolinar… that this new, little, wonderful life can come into the world… it's good."

Jack nodded his head and kissed her temple, holding her close to him. This was the change that they had been waiting for, he was sure of it. Things could only get better from here.

* * *

"Samantha Carter! Good god, it's been weeks since you've been here!"

Sam managed a smile, despite the slight uneasiness she felt as she stepped into her familiar coffee shop. She hadn't been at the café since before she had gone to Nasya, but Jack—along with the rest of SG-1—had insisted on stopping their daily for her regular coffee. It was a bit of normalcy that she could hold on to, and she appreciated it, even though she hadn't been able to bring herself to visit the café in months.

"I know, Karen," Sam said with a smile. She leaned against the counter and inhaled the scent of perfectly roasted coffee. "Work has been a little…crazy, so…"

"Look, Sam, you know I adore you, and all, but…" Karen shrugged her shoulders and looked over at Jack and Daniel, who were busy doing their usual bickering thing. Although instead of arguing over different aspects of alien culture, they were currently debating which roast of coffee was the best at the café. "I've really been enjoying all of the handsome men that have been coming in to get coffee for you."

Sam giggled while Janet nodded her head emphatically. "Sorry to disappoint you, Karen, but I think I'm going to be at the café on my regular schedule, now. Of course, that won't stop any of the guys from tagging along, as well. They've become quiet addicted to your coffee."

"Excellent," Karen said. She served up the four cardboard travel coffee cups, pushing them towards Sam with a wink. "These are on the house. Welcome back, Sam."

Sam and Janet each picked up two of the coffee cups, carrying them over to their boys. They had ordered food as well, so they had a set of delicious-smelling breakfast sandwiches waiting for them. They settled in at a booth by the window, eating their breakfast and drinking their coffee.

This was normal. This was good for them, and Sam took comfort in it. It had now been an entire week since she had had a nightmare, and she had finally expressed a desire to go to the café that she had once frequented every day. Instead of making a big deal out of it, Jack had accepted it for what it was and had decided to invite Daniel and Janet along as well. Teal'c and Kawalsky were keeping an eye on Cassie, but they had all planned on bringing back some chocolate-covered pastries for their friends.

They had just finished their meal when Janet got a call from the infirmary. Siler had injured himself again, and Daniel was her ride back to the SGC. They said their goodbyes, tried to pay for the bill, and then left when Jack waved them off. Sam picked at the rest of her breakfast sandwich, and Jack took note that there was only a bite or two left. She was eating much more regularly than she used to, which was another sign of her healing.

"What do you say we head home after this?" Jack suggested. "We drop those pastries off, and then we have a relaxing afternoon at home."

"And by home, you mean… my house. Right?" Sam asked.

"Well, yeah." Jack shrugged his shoulders. "I mean, we've been there for over two months. It's home… right?" Jack echoed Sam's question, hoping that this wasn't about to turn into something dramatic.

This was a precarious discussion, and Jack was more than aware of that fact. He wasn't sure how he suddenly found himself here, but he was smart enough to know that it was happening whether he liked it or not. The truth was, though, that Jack had essentially moved in with Sam. It was only natural that they would eventually have a talk about their living situation.

Instead of staring at her coffee, Sam managed to look Jack in the eye. "I don't want to go back to my house," she admitted. "I don't… I don't really like it there anymore, Jack."

"Uh… what?"

"It's not home," Sam told him. "With everything we've been through, and the nightmares… I don't want that to be my home anymore, Jack. I don't want that to be _our_ home. I want someplace new. Someplace that doesn't have all of that… baggage."

"Wait." Jack blinked at her, trying his best to keep up with the sudden turn the conversation had taken. "Are you saying that you actually want to _live_ together?"

"Um." Sam shifted in her seat and took another long sip of her coffee. Her cup was actually empty, but it gave her something to do, so she still held the cup to her lips. For as smart as she was, she suddenly found herself at a loss for words. "Yeah. I guess so, yeah."

Jack stared at her for a long moment. She refused to squirm under his gaze, and instead met his eyes. Another long beat of silence passed, and then Jack finally nodded his head. "Okay. Okay. We can… we can move into my place, then. And if we want to find something of our own, we can do that. Later. After things settle down."

"Really?" Sam reached forward and grabbed Jack's hand, and she felt a sense of relief wash over her when his fingers laced with hers. "You want to do this? You're okay with this?"

"Yeah, I'm okay with this," Jack confirmed. He leaned forward and brushed his lips against her forehead. "Come on, we've been practically living together for the past few months, anyway."

Sam slipped her arms around Jack's neck, unable to help her little display of public affection. This was a pretty monumental occasion for them, after all. "That's very logical of you, Colonel O'Neill."

He grinned at her and leaned forward, pressing his lips to hers. For once, it wasn't just a simple, tender kiss. This was a little more passionate, a little harder, and much more along the lines of what Sam wanted. When they finally pulled back for air, they shared a smile.

* * *

 **Lots of emotional stuff in this one. We'll get back to the action in the next chapter. Also, the conversation that Sam and Jack have in Daniel's lab was in part borrowed from a season 2 episode of the TV show _Bones_ (yet another show that I love that took forever to get their main characters together). I felt it was very fitting for what I was trying to convey. Thanks for reading!**


	12. take a chance on me

**I'm truly thrilled any time someone takes the time to review this story. Anything AU—especially anything involving the SGC universe—is unnerving. To have people support this story still, means so much. So thank you. :)**

 **I apologize for any mistakes. They are all mine, for I don't have a beta, and am often eager to post a chapter as soon as I finish it.**

 **Just an extra heads up: this chapter is more M-rated than the other ones.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own anything. This chapter title comes from the song "Rebel Girl" by Angels and Airwaves.**

* * *

 **forty-two.**

Sam couldn't hold back her gasp when she saw Marci Wells cradling the tiny baby girl in her arms. Just like Janet had moments before, she crossed the empty space of the infirmary in three long strides, and was next to the young woman cradling the infant within seconds.

"Oh my god," Sam breathed as she and her best friend looked down reverently at the infant baby girl. "She's beautiful."

Wells grinned and adjusted the tiny pink hat on top of his daughter's head. "Thanks," he told them. "I think she looks more like her mother, so that works in her favor."

"Simon," Marci chastised gently. She smiled as she looked up at Wells' coworkers—she didn't know everything that was exactly involved with the SGC, but she knew enough. It was a top secret operation, and she kept quiet and played the deep space telemetry card anytime her husband's job was brought up. "She's beautiful, just like you."

"Marci." Wells' voice was gentle, even as his cheeks burned bright red. "I'm not beautiful. I'm…"

"Yeah, yeah," Marci said as she waved her hand, effectively ending Wells' protest. "I know. Whatever."

Already, the rest of Wells' team was ragging on him, talking about how beautiful he was and how his eyes sparkled. Wells rolled his eyes, but he didn't much care, given the tiny baby girl his wife had passed to Janet. He was forever enchanted by his daughter, and he would gladly take whatever ribbing his teammates dished out to him.

"Oh, she's precious," Janet cooed. She had only been holding the infant for a few minutes when one of Siler's helpers came into the infirmary, holding his hand to his chest as he complained about a burn he had sustained while assisting the engineer. Janet pressed the baby girl into Sam's hands and bustled off to clean the injury, while they all laughed about Slier and his ability to injure himself and anyone around him.

"She really is the most precious thing," Sam agreed as she cradled the baby in her arms. Her brother had two young children and she saw them on a fairly regular basis, and Henry had grandchildren of his own, so it wasn't like she was unfamiliar with babies. She just couldn't remember the last time she had held one this tiny.

Of course, SG-1 made their way into the infirmary not long after Sam and Janet did. Those four men always seemed to know exactly what was going on the SGC, at any given place or time (Sam suspected that it was Teal'c—people wouldn't know it by just looking at him, but the Jaffa was the gossip king of the SGC).

Daniel and Kawalsky were leading the charge, already arguing over which one of them was going to hold little Lyla first. Teal'c, as always, was calm, his hands clasped behind his back as he walked a few paces behind his teammates. Jack brought up the rear, calling "Children, play nice!" with a half-amused, half-exasperated look on his face.

"You're going to have to wait your turn," Sam announced when Daniel and Kawalsky paused for breath at the same time. "Because I'm holding her right now, and I'm not giving her up any time soon."

Sam was too busy looking at the infant in her arms to see it happen, but Janet and Teal'c did: Jack drew up short when he saw Sam holding the baby. Even as Janet finished bandaging up Siler's tech, she narrowed her eyes at Jack, ready to rip him a new one for seeing Sam holding a baby and freaking out.

Jack didn't freak out, though. His hesitation was brief, barely lasting for a second, before a look of wonderment came over his face. Janet didn't think she had ever seen Jack look like that before, and she had known him for years. That look disappeared just as quickly, masked with his usual look of amused indifference.

"What'cha got there, Carter?" Jack asked as he came up next to her. He invaded her space just enough, standing close enough that his shoulder brushed against hers. Sam warmed from the inside out, knowing that this was Jack's way of showing affection while at work. They tended to remain totally professional while at work (make out sessions when they had first started their relationship not withstanding), but Jack couldn't resist pushing the boundaries just a _little_ bit. Sam had no problem letting him do it, either.

Unable to keep her giddiness to herself, Sam tilted Lyla in her arms just slightly, so that Jack could better see her little scrunched-up face. "Isn't she beautiful?" Sam asked.

The question was rhetoric, because obviously little Lyla Wells was the cutest thing that any of them had seen in a long time. Still, Jack answered anyway. "She is."

Sam smiled, since she didn't miss the way that Jack's gaze warmed as he looked down at the infant. "Do you want to hold her?"

Jack didn't need to be asked twice. He was already reaching for the baby when Daniel and Kawalsky started protesting at the same time. Jack smirked at them as he settled Lyla into his arms with ease, and Sam was sufficiently distracted by the view he now presented. It had been a spectacularly bad idea to hand Jack that baby, but it was somehow simultaneously the best one Sam had ever had. What was it about a man holding a baby that was so attractive?

"Come on, Sam, how come Jack gets to hold her first?" Daniel whined.

"Yeah, I wanna hold the tiny baby," Kawalsky added, and Teal'c made a noise in the back of his throat that sounded suspiciously like a chuckle at that statement.

It was a well-known fact that the men of SG-1 had a soft spot for children. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out why: Jack and Teal'c were fathers, Daniel loved everyone, and Kawalsky was really just a big softie. They always gave one hundred percent, no matter what mission they went on, but if children were involved, then all bets were off. They were fierce whenever children were involved, doing everything they could to make sure that the kids that they met on other worlds were properly protected, and continued to have that protection even when they were gone.

"You'll get your turn, Kawalsky," Jack chided, even as he smiled sweetly at the baby. He bounced her gently in his arms, expertly soothing her before she could even really begin fussing. Sam began to think all sorts of interesting, futuristic thoughts then, and she did her best to push them away before she could get too carried away. Thankfully, Daniel provided the perfect distraction.

He started grumbling about Sam playing favorites, how it was hardly fair that Jack got to hold Lyla first, because he hadn't even tried to call his place, and besides, Daniel had delivered a baby off-world before, so he was completely qualified to hold the infant.

By that time, Janet had finished treating the tech, and had joined them once again. She snorted outright at that, laughing loudly as Daniel tried to defend himself. Jack started dramatically apologizing to Lyla as if she could understand him, and it made Sam grateful that miracles like this still existed.

* * *

 **forty-three.**

Cassandra's little brow furrowed as she dipped her spoon into her carton of ice cream. "So we let them do everything while we eat ice cream?" she asked. Truly, for a six year old girl, she spoke with the maturity of someone beyond her years.

That probably had something to do with the trauma she had experienced at the hand of the Goa'uld, and Janet, Sam, and SG-1 had collectively decided that they needed to reintroduce some aspects of a normal childhood—especially an Earth one.

"Cassie, you'll learn that this is man-thing," Janet explained. She had protested loudly when Sam had pulled out the cartons of ice cream (they were only an hour away from dinner, after all), but had relented when Cassie had eaten a handful of carrot sticks first. This was a momentous occasion, after all.

All of the paperwork had gone through, and it was official: Janet was now Cassie's mother. They had been prepping one of the spare rooms in Janet's room for the past week. The previous weekend, they had painted the room a pretty lilac color that Cassie had instantly fallen in love with. Daniel had helped her pick out photographs of different fields of flowers to hang up, and Janet and Sam had gone shopping so that they could find a matching bed spread. Kawalsky had bought every stuffed animal in existence, while Jack had bought Cassie's first bike and first backyard swing set. Teal'c—who had somehow become proficient in all technology despite only being on Earth for a handful of years—had set up Janet's new security system.

Now, after a trip to Ikea (which had been an adventure in and of itself), the men were setting up all of Cassie's new bedroom furniture, while Sam, Janet, and Cassie lounged around, eating ice cream and watching some classic Disney movies. Cassie needed to begin her Earth pop culture education immediately, and it would be an excellent time to introduce Teal'c to Disney, as well.

"They're going to try to set up you dresser and your desk and your bed without reading any directions," Janet continued as she waved her spoon around. They planned on ordering pizza for dinner later, but Sam and Janet had already broken out one of the bottles of wine they had bought. The wine may or may not have already gone to Janet's head. "They'll forget a part, or break something, and then we'll send Sam to fix it. She'll have it finished before the pizza gets here."

Sam snorted into her wine glass—this conversation was more for her and Janet's amusement than for Cassie's curious mind, anyway. After all, it was probably true. While all four men in SG-1 were very capable, for some reason, they refused to read the directions before setting up a piece of furniture. Janet had already declared that she thought it would be twenty minutes before Daniel finally came downstairs to ask for help. Sam was willing to give them a solid forty-five minutes.

The boys held out for half an hour before they finally sent Daniel downstairs to ask for help. Sam laughingly obliged, and when she went up into Cassie's new room, she was pleasantly surprised to find that they had correctly set up the bed and the dresser. For some reason, the only thing that they had trouble with was the desk.

SG-1 could save the world—hell the universe—with one hand tied behind their backs. Put them in front of a desk from Ikea, however, and they were stumped.

So Sam shooed them out of the room, saying that she'd be down to join them for pizza in the next ten or so minutes. Jack was the last one out, and she brushed a kiss against his cheek. She was pleasantly surprised when Jack took her around the waist and pressed her against the wall in the hallway and kissed her senseless.

Ever since they had agreed to move in together, Jack had been much freer in his affection with her. They still hadn't taken that step to making love again, but they were steadily getting closer. Truth be told, Sam kind of enjoyed how they were messing around like they were teenagers.

Ten minutes later, the desk was all set up and put in place. Sam came downstairs just as the pizza was arriving. Kawalsky took a swig of his beer and stared at Sam with narrowed eyes, and she just smirked widely at him.

"Okay, you know, I have a degree in engineering too, and I couldn't figure out to put that desk together. How in the hell did you figure it out, Sam?"

"I checked the directions first," Sam said cheekily.

Kawalsky scowled and opened his mouth to protest again, but Janet cut him off with a fierce glare of her own. "Why don't we try to watch the language around Cassie, okay?"

Glancing over at the little girl currently eating ice cream, Kawalsky had the good grace to look at least a little guilty. Cassie was thoroughly engrossed in _Treasure Planet_ (which happened to be one of the most underrated Disney movies, in Sam's opinion), so she hadn't seemed to notice Kawalsky's language slip.

"Would you accept that I'm giving her an education in Earthly language?" Kawalsky tried as he effected an innocent look.

Janet had been seeing those innocent looks from all four men of SG-1 for years, and she had been immune to them from the start. Now was no different. "Not when she's only six years old, Major."

Jack let out a whistle as he picked up an extra spoon and dipped it into the carton of Chunky Monkey that Cassie was slowly working her way through. The little girl giggled as he loaded the spoon up heavily. "She's calling you by the rank, Kawalsky. You're in trouble now."

"I… well, I just…" Kawalsky huffed and reached for one of the boxes of pizza. "Just give me some pizza, okay?"

Sam settled onto the couch next to Jack, with her glass of wine refilled and her carton of peanut butter cup ice cream held in the other hand. Jack turned with his spoon and tried to get a scoop of her ice cream, but Sam held the carton out of his reach. He pouted at her, and she took a large bite just to tease him.

Jack frowned, but he settled for stealing another bite of Cassie's ice cream before he put two slices of pizza on a plate and sat back into the couch. He accepted the beer that Daniel handed him and said, "What are we watching, anyway? I didn't know Disney made movies like this."

"That's because it's criminally underrated!" Sam exclaimed. "This is _Treasure Planet_. You should enjoy it, Jack. It's about space pirates."

"I agree, Sam," Daniel said seriously. He had that tone of voice that he got whenever they talked about ancient civilizations, whether they were on Earth or another planet. "It really is one of Disney's best movies. You know what else is a great movie? _Atlantis: The Lost Empire_."

Sam was unable to hold back her snort of laughter. With her young nieces and nephews, she more than a little familiar with all Disney movies, whether or not they were popular. "You would like that one, Daniel, since you basically are Milo Thatch."

Flushing, Daniel opened his mouth to protest, and then closed it again after a second of thought. "Yeah, that tracks," he mumbled.

Jack and Kawalsky got into a serious debate about space pirates, and Teal'c joined in, giving a well-thought out response to the way that space pirates would engage in battle. Sam finally relinquished her carton of peanut butter cup ice cream to Jack, and he grinned widely at her and squeezed her arm before returning to his space pirate debate.

Sam wondered when her Saturdays had turned into Disney movie nights, eating pizza and ice cream. As she listened to Kawalsky dissect the anti-gravitational device on the space ship in the movie versus the ones they came in contact with during their work off-world, Sam found that she didn't mind very much.

* * *

"This was fun," Sam murmured as she settled into bed next to Jack.

"What, what we just did in the kitchen?" Jack asked as he turned on his side to face her. He waggled his eyebrows at her, giving her a smile that shot a bolt of desire straight to her core. "Yeah, I agree."

Sam giggled at that as her cheeks flushed. They had quite the make out session, touching each other and pushing one another closer to the edge as they teased. It was the most intimate that they had been in a long time, and it was wonderful. "That's not exactly what I was talking about, but I agree, as well." At Jack's smug look, Sam knew it was time to change the subject. "No, I meant watching the movies and eating ice cream and hanging out with Cassie. It was fun."

"It was," Jack said with a laugh. After _Treasure Planet_ , they had watched _The Little Mermaid_. Right before the wedding at the end of the movie, Janet had paused it and told Cassie that she grew legs, went off to college, and lived happily ever after. Sam had pressed play on the movie again, laughingly agreeing with Janet's version of the movie's ending, but also saying that the end of a Disney movie never hurt anyone.

Jack reached out and slid his hand down Sam's side. She was wearing one his t-shirts again. Now that Sam had officially moved in, she had an unlimited amount of t-shirts to sleep in, and it had honestly become her favorite sleep attire. "You're great with kids, you know."

Sam shrugged her shoulders, flushing again, but this time for an entirely different reason. Visions of a little baby boy with blonde hair and Jack's eyes danced through her mind, and she pushed those thoughts away. It was entirely too soon to be thinking about such things, and besides that, they were still dealing with her recent trauma.

"I have a lot of nieces and nephews," Sam explained. "I've been around children often, but I don't know if I would say that I'm good with them. Comfortable might be a better word for it."

Jack shook his head. "No, you are good with them. Everyone saw it. Even Teal'c agreed." Sam arched an eyebrow at that, and Jack added, "Well, he didn't actually say so. But he did that eyebrow thing and he nodded his head, so, you know…"

"Right." Sam scooted closer to Jack, and he wrapped an arm around her waist. "So…"

"So…" Jack grinned at her. "I'm just saying."

* * *

 **forty-four.**

There had been no talk of Sam going off-world again, which of course was understandable. Besides, Sam had to admit that she wasn't exactly keen on going through the Stargate anytime soon. The thought saddened her, because the trip through the Stargate itself was always amazing. Sam had to hold on to the belief that she would lose the fear that she now associated with the Stargate. She had help, after all—from professionals, and most importantly, from the people who cared about her.

She couldn't let fear get in the way of scientific discovery. She simply couldn't allow it to happen.

At least one good thing had come from the trip to the Alpha Site. The tests with the Naquadah reactor had all gone well, and they had moved on to using it while other teams were off-world. There were a few small kinks to work out, and Sam was enjoying the work. It helped her to shake off the lingering uncomfortable feelings she still had whenever she walked through some of the halls of the SGC.

It wasn't easy to forget that she almost died here, and it affected her more than she wanted it to. Sam still couldn't walk through the hallways with the VIP rooms without feeling like she was going to throw up. Thankfully, she really had no reason to be in that part of the SGC, so it wasn't a huge deal. At the moment, anyway.

Getting over being near the VIP rooms in the SGC was just another small step in her recovery, and it was one that wasn't anywhere near the top of her list. She'd get there eventually, but she had much more important things to focus on right now: like her work, and her relationship with Jack… and the fact that they would be looking for a new house together soon.

A lot was changing, and most of it was very good. Even though it was all happening so quickly, Sam didn't really mind it. The last sudden change she had made—leaving her fiancé at the altar and jumping on the first available plane to Colorado—had turned out fairly well for her after all. Even though it wasn't necessarily in her nature to let go and roll with the punches, she had done a pretty good job of it over the last two-ish years.

That still didn't mean she was anywhere near ready to go through the Stargate again, though, or even talk about how she had so many reservations with that concept in general. Sam was generally very good at tackling problems head on, but she was self-aware enough to know that the Stargate issue was something she could deal with at another time, when she was a little more emotionally stable.

At any rate, a coffee break was definitely in order, and there was no way in hell the sludge in the cafeteria would cut it. Even though Sam had a perfectly good coffee maker in her office, she felt the need to indulge a little. Sam was still working on a light schedule, so—just this once—she felt justified in taking an extra long lunch break to go to Karen's Café.

She called Janet to see if she wanted to go with her, but was informed that the CMO was still in the middle of doing post-mission checkups for SG-11. Sam left a message with a nurse, then gathered up her purse and her jacket and made her way up to the surface.

Sam glanced around as she walked into the late fall afternoon sunshine—Kawalsky must have been rubbing off on her, because he was always reminding her to check her surroundings. There was an uneasy tingle at the back of her neck, but her car was only fifteen feet away. She could make the distance easily.

She was more than halfway across that distance when she felt it—her car was ridiculously close, the safety so near her that she could practically taste it. There was a sharp prick in the side of her neck, though, and Sam felt her knees buckle underneath her as a fast-acting drug spread rapidly through her system.

Her vision blacked over, and out of the corner of her eye, Sam could see someone approaching her. She struggled to open her mouth, to make her voice work and call out for help, but a sinking feeling in her stomach informed her that this person was foe, not friend.

When that person grabbed her from behind and threw her over their shoulder, Sam knew that she was well and truly in some deep shit.

* * *

"Hey," Janet greeted as she strolled into the commissary. It was two hours after she had received Sam's message, and Janet had finally managed to escape the infirmary. She had finished with SG-11's post-mission checkup, but a lieutenant on SG-8 had broken her ankle on a routine mission to one of their allies—there had been a mudslide. In addition the lieutenant's broken ankle, Janet had to deal with two concussions, a sprained wrist, and several lacerations from the rest of the team.

Daniel smiled at his girlfriend and lifted his cup of coffee in greeting. "Hey, Jan," he greeted. They were in the commissary for Teal'c's mid-afternoon snack break. His tray was piled high with every fruit imaginable, and he was steadily working his way through all eight pounds of it. The rest of SG-1 had tagged along for a coffee break. They invariably met with Teal'c for his snack break at least three times a week.

Janet's brow furrowed as she scanned the group. She had expected to see Sam with them, and she had thought that she would have brought them all drinks from Karen's Café. "Sam isn't here?" she asked.

Jack shrugged his shoulders and looked longingly at the bowl of blueberries on Teal'c's tray. He was hungry, but unwilling to drag his butt over to the commissary line. He had already tried to snag a strawberry from Teal'c's tray, and had gotten his hand slapped for his troubles. "She's been locked in her lab since this morning. She told me that she was going to work on some improvements on the reactor, and none of us were to bother her unless she told us to."

"Huh." Janet sank into the chair that Daniel had pulled up for her. "She left a message with one of my nurses and said she was running to the café for coffee. That was almost two hours ago. She didn't say anything to you guys?"

At Janet's words, Jack's heart immediately sank. A horrible feeling formed in his gut, and he shot out of his chair before anyone could say anything else. The rest of his team was close to follow, with Janet on their heels.

Jack stalked through the hallways, ignoring other SGC personnel as he made his way to Sam's lab. Just as it had been when Jack had checked a little over forty-five minutes ago, the blast door to Sam's lab was shut. He hadn't bothered her then, knowing that she still needed some time and space to herself, and her lab was one of the only places she could get it. He knew that he would see her for dinner, and he figured that he would make it into a team night to celebrate the end of the work week.

He had override codes for the blast door, given that he was the commander of the flagship team at the SGC, along with being the second-in-command of the whole base. He punched the code into the keypad and slipped into the lab as soon as the gap between the wall and the blast door was wide enough for him to fit through.

Sam wasn't in the lab.

"Where the hell is she?" Jack growled.

"I'll check the logs," Kawalsky said immediately. He was gone in the next second—he knew that Jack would need immediate action, would need information as soon as he could get it.

"I will observe the security footage," Teal'c intoned, and he disappeared as well.

That left Daniel to deal with Jack, which was usually his role when things got bad like this. "Jack…" Daniel began.

Jack shot his friend a dark glare. "Daniel. Don't."

"Just take a deep breath, Jack," Daniel suggested, even though he knew his advice wouldn't exactly be well-received. He had to try, though, because this was Jack, and now Sam was involved… Daniel's inherent optimism was at the forefront of his mind, and he sincerely hoped that nothing terrible had happened. "You don't know that anything has happened yet."

Shaking his head, Jack began to pace back and forth in Sam's lab. "But I do, don't I?" he muttered, more to himself than to anyone else. He had been known for his freakishly accurate gut feelings, and this time was no different. His gut was telling him that something horrible had happened, and he wanted nothing more than to take action. The problem was, he just didn't know where to start. "Something happened to Sam. She wouldn't just disappear like this. Not after everything that went down."

Jack was right, and Daniel knew it. He couldn't believe that after everything they had been through, something like this had to happen—he could only hope that Sam had disappeared of her own accord, having found the need to be alone. It was something that he was quite familiar with, especially after he had lost Sha're.

The look on Kawalsky's face when he reentered Sam's lab, however, clued them in to the fact that something very sinister had transpired. "Sam sighed out at 1100 hours, but her car is still in the parking lot."

"Did she take my truck?" Jack asked, even though he already knew the answer that question. Now that they were living together, they drove into work together a few times a week. Of course, their schedules were pretty erratic, and there were times that either one of them had to be there early. Today had been one of those days, but Jack still had to ask the question… just in case.

Kawalsky's eyes were full of sympathy as he answered. "No. I'm sorry, Jack. Your truck is still in the parking lot."

Jack cursed and dragged his hands through his hair, renewing his pacing once again. "Okay. So we call Karen's and we ask if she's seen Sam in the last hour or so. That way we'll know if anything… if anything really serious happened."

"I'm on it," Daniel stated as he pulled his cell phone from the pocket of his BDUs. He disappeared into the hallway

Teal'c appeared only seconds later, a grim look on his normally stoic face. "The footage revealed that Dr. Carter had been in the parking area for a brief moment," Teal'c said. The SGC had recently installed security cameras in their parking lots—the attempted kidnappings of numerous SGC personnel had necessitated the cameras. "It appeared that something pricked her neck. A dart, perhaps. Then Dr. Carter's image disappears from the film."

"Show me," Jack ordered. His face was hard, and there was a dangerous tension to his muscles that his team members hadn't seen in a very long time.

Thankfully, Teal'c had brought a laptop with the files saved from the footage. With a few strokes on the keyboard, Teal'c brought up the video. It was just as he said: Sam appeared in the parking lot, headed in the direction of her car. Then she jerked, and she raised a hand to her neck. After that, the footage fuzzed out—when it became clear once again, Sam was nowhere to be found.

"Alert General Hammond, General Carter, and Senator Hayes," Jack growled. "Sam has been abducted."

* * *

 **forty-five.**

Groaning, Sam shook her head slowly as she came to. She regretted the movement almost immediately, as her stomach rolled violently in protest. She opened her eyes, winced against the light that invaded her vision, and slammed her eyes shut once again. Sam inhaled slowly through her nose and exhaled through her mouth, hoping to calm her rapid pulse and suddenly nauseous stomach.

While she was breathing in and out slowly, Sam was able to take stock of her situation as best as she could with her eyes closed: she was sitting in a chair, and her hands were bound behind her with rope. Her feet her unbound, thankfully, but she had no idea if there were guards posted in or outside of the room she was being held in. Until she figured that out, there was no way she could even begin an escape attempt.

Once her stomach calmed down, Sam slowly opened her eyes once again. She squinted against the light, but once she caught sight of who was in the room with her, Sam knew that she couldn't close her eyes again. Well this just kept getting better and better, didn't it?

"Maybourne." Sam's voice was pleasant, despite the situation that she found herself in. "To what do I owe this pleasure?"

Colonel Harry Maybourne grimaced at her. "I can help you, Dr. Carter," he hissed.

"Help?" Sam's eyebrow arched, and she jerked at the restraints that held her hands in place behind the chair. "You call _this_ helping me?"

"I have to keep up appearances, Dr. Carter," Maybourne told her. "What, did you think I could just allow you to simply roam around without restraint?"

The longer she was awake, the clearer her mind became. Still, Sam preferred to blame her next statement on the drugs lingering in her system, despite the truth behind them. "Wow, Maybourne. You really are an idiot, aren't you?"

Maybourne sighed heavily. "Dr. Carter, I'm going to help you. Whether or not you allow me to."

Sam narrowed her eyes at him. "Define help."

At this, the colonel rolled his eyes. Sam felt a small amount of satisfaction at getting to him. "You're kind of a pain in the ass, did you know that? I don't know how SG-1 puts up with you."

Instead of being offended, Sam shrugged her shoulders. "SG-1 is full of pains in the ass, so I guess I just fit right in."

To her surprise, Maybourne snorted in amusement at that. "Isn't that the truth."

* * *

When Jack's phone buzzed in his pocket with an unknown number, he briefly considered not answering it. With the knowledge that Sam had very obviously been abducted, there was a strong possibility that her kidnappers were calling. They still weren't sure if Sam's abduction had to do with the SGC, or if it was because she was the daughter of a general and the stepdaughter of a high-profile senator. Either way, it wasn't looking great.

With that knowledge, Jack answered the call after three rings. He wished he could say that he was surprised at the voice on the other end, but he really wasn't. "Jack? It's Harry."

"Maybourne," Jack greeted. To those who didn't know him, Jack's voice was pleasant enough. His team—and Maybourne—could sense the underlying threat in his greeting, however. "To what do I owe this pleasure?"

"I think you know exactly why I'm calling, Jack," Maybourne muttered.

"I don't, actually," Jack said. His voice was conversationally polite, despite the warning look Daniel was sending him. That didn't stop Jack from making his threat. "Though if this has anything to do with Sam's abduction, I'm going to gut you. Painfully."

Maybourne sighed heavily on the other end of the line. "There's no need to get violent, Jack. I'm going to make sure that no harm comes to your girl."

Then, in the background, Jack heard the voice that made his heart lift: " _I'm not a girl, Maybourne!_ "

Despite the seriousness of the situation, Jack couldn't help the bark of laughter that escaped him. Sam might have been kidnapped by a rogue government agency, but she wasn't letting that stop her. She was going to let her opinion and her feelings be known, no matter what.

Maybourne sighed again. "Do you want to talk to her?"

"Just give her the damn phone, Maybourne," Jack ordered. His non-answer was really very revealing, and Maybourne knew exactly what it meant.

There was some quiet shuffling on the other end of the line, and then Jack heard Sam say, "You know, if you untied me, I could just hold the phone myself. You don't have to do it for me."

"We've been over this, Dr. Carter," Maybourne retorted. "I can't untie you. It would be too suspicious."

Jack couldn't hear Sam's response, but he could picture her rolling her eyes. When she sighed dramatically, Jack knew that Maybourne hadn't untied her. "Carter? Are you alright?" he asked gruffly.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Sam answered, and though it was odd, he was assured by the annoyance in her voice. "I'm just tied to a chair and the NID kidnapped me and they left _Maybourne_ in charge of me for some reason."

" _I resent that!_ " Maybourne exclaimed in the background.

Both Sam and Jack ignored him. "The NID, huh?" Jack asked casually. "So this probably has something to do with…"

"My possession by Jolinar?" Sam finished for him. "Yeah, that's what I'm thinking, too. Damn it, I didn't plan on being a science experiment for anyone."

"We're going to get you out there, baby," Jack assured. He generally wasn't one to use pet names, but every now and then, one slipped. Now was as good a time as any, he thought belatedly in the back of his mind.

Thankfully, Sam didn't protest. "I know you are," she murmured. "Though I wonder if Maybourne could just let me go…"

" _Not going to happen,_ " he said, loud enough for Jack to hear. Then Maybourne launched into some long-winded explanation about his position in the NID and how if he could remain undercover, he could help the SGC with whatever rogue missions the NID was trying to facilitate. Jack could just picture the way that Sam rolled her eyes again and grudgingly agreed with him. The logic was irrefutable, despite how obnoxious Maybourne was.

"Tell Maybourne to give us a location," Jack ordered. "We'll be there soon."

Sam agreed, of course. She assured him once again that she was fine, and that the worst thing that had happened to her so far was that she was drowsy from the drugs used to knock her out for her abduction. Most of Jack's fears were allayed, but his worry didn't disappear completely.

"Sam, I—" Jack blurted before he could stop himself. He suddenly remembered that he was in a room full of his teammates and Sam's best friend, and Sam had some oddly repentant traitor on the other end of the phone line, trying to help her. Now was not the time for heartfelt confessions.

"Stay safe," Jack said instead. His whole team—Teal'c included—was giving him identical looks that plainly stated they knew exactly what he was going to say. Jack chose to ignore them, instead focusing on the conversation with his kidnapped girlfriend.

"I will," Sam assured him. Her voice was wholly confident, as if she believed that she would come out of this perfectly alright. For some reason, even after everything they had been through, Jack believed her.

This was going to be okay. Jack refused to believe in another outcome.

* * *

Maybourne had to leave her, in order to make an appearance at some meeting about what they were going to do with Sam now that they had kidnapped her. It was clear that the NID knew about her possession by Jolinar, and thus her survival. They believed that she had some knowledge locked in her mind about the Tok'ra, and they wanted to use that.

Sam also suspected that they wanted to use her to discover what they could about the Tok'ra healing ability. She had a sneaking suspicion that the NID believed there was some marker in her blood that could give them answers, given that Jolinar had healed her after the attack from the Ashrak before she died.

They needed to keep her alive for the time being, so that they could attempt to access her knowledge about the Tok'ra. Sam didn't know for sure if she had the information that they were looking for, but she knew that Jolinar had left some sort of repository of memories within her. She hadn't been brave enough to even attempt to access it just yet, and she certainly didn't want to do it while she captured by the NID. Still, she knew that it was that fact that was keeping her alive.

Sam was more than a little bit annoyed that Maybourne couldn't at least cut her bindings—or give her something so that she could cut her bindings—so that she could escape and help SG-1 once they got to where she was being held. She could appreciate that he had a cover to maintain, but that didn't stop her from being supremely annoyed.

And it begged the question—why was Maybourne suddenly being so helpful? Sure, he had aided them during the foothold situation, but he had been decidedly unhelpful when the Touchstone had been missing. What had caused such a change of heart?

At the same time, Sam wasn't sure that she should question it. Just as it had during SGC's foothold situation, Maybourne's conscious had obviously made a roaring appearance. Sam had to believe that that was at least partly why he was helping her, and she resolved not to question it too much—at least for the time being, anyway. She had no desire to be dissected like a lab animal, and she had no doubt that that's what would happen to her if she was left alone with the other NID personnel for long enough.

Sam wasn't quite sure what she had been expecting from her rescue. The last time she had been rescued by SG-1, she had been under the possession by an alien entity, and there had been a lot of explosions and death and general sadness and despair.

This time, however, there was quite a bit of stealth. It was probably due to the aid of Maybourne; he was able to sneak SG-1 in without being detected, given his high position within the NID. He could make guards disappear, make security footage go away without any questions being asked. They had the advantage, for once.

Jack ran into the room Sam was being held in, gun in hand, though his body language suggested that he already knew there was no serious threat in the room Sam was being held in. Once again, she was astounded by that odd sixth sense Jack seemed to have—the one that alerted him to any danger the people he cared about might face.

"You okay, Carter?" Jack asked casually as he used a pocket knife to slice through Sam's bindings. Teal'c was standing behind him, guarding the entryways, while Maybourne hovered awkwardly in the doorway. Sam smiled at Teal'c, but ignored Maybourne completely as Jack helped her from the chair she had spent several hours strapped to.

"I'm fine," Sam assured him once again. At that point, the drugs that had been used to knock her out had mostly disappeared from her system, though she was sure that Janet would want to run some tests just to be sure. She smiled at Jack, touching his cheek with the tips of her fingers. "Thanks for coming for me."

Jack's fingers wrapped around her wrist, squeezing comfortingly. "Always," he whispered.

And Sam knew then—whatever happened, he would always come for her. Just as she would for him.

* * *

 **forty-six.**

"You should have stayed in the infirmary."

Sam rolled her eyes and shifted on their couch. They had bought it together two weeks ago—Sam had refused to accept the ugly corduroy couch Jack had owned for over ten years, while the one that Sam had had in her old house was a generic one from Ikea. Sam and Jack had finally decided on one together, and it was made out of a beautiful, comfortable, supple leather that was resistant to stains and creasing.

"I'm fine, Jack," she assured him once again. "Janet ran all of her usual tests, and the drugs are all out of my system. Thanks to Maybourne, they didn't have time to do anything else."

Jack groaned and covered his face with his hands as he collapsed next to Sam on the couch. "I never thought I'd be grateful to that weasel for anything. And yet…"

"I know," Sam agreed quietly. "He really came through for us, didn't he?"

"He did," Jack grumbled. "Damn it."

"Jack…"

Jack sat up suddenly, taking Sam's hands in his own. He raised them to his lips, kissing her knuckles gently. "I'm not annoyed that he helped you, of course. I'm glad that you had someone on your side. I'm just…" He sighed and shook his head. "I can't believe that it was _Maybourne_ of all people. He's such a little…"

"Pain in the ass?" Sam supplied when Jack trailed off.

He grinned at her and squeezed her hands. "More or less."

"Maybourne called me a pain in the ass too, you know," Sam informed Jack. When he simply grinned at her, she pretended to gasp outrageously. That only made Jack laugh harder, but Sam still went along with it. "He thought that all of you on SG-1 were pains in the ass too, you know!"

Jack shrugged his shoulders and drew Sam into his arms, then. "He's right, you know. We are kind of obnoxious."

"Isn't that the truth," Sam agreed teasingly.

"You love us," Jack retorted.

His response had been teasing, used without a deeper meaning. Still, Sam couldn't help the flush to her cheeks, or her quick intake of breath. She had deflected her response by asking what time their takeout would arrive, and had further been saved by the ringing of the doorbell.

They ate their food while they watched a documentary that Sam had recorded on the DVR weeks ago. She was barely paying attention to it, however—she was more interested in Jack and his reactions. He kept glancing at her when he thought she wasn't paying attention, as if he thought he could check in on her and catalogue her reactions.

Finally, towards the end of the documentary, Sam touched Jack's shoulder. "I'm okay, you know."

Sam hated to think that all of the progress they made in the months since her possession by Jolinar had been decimated by her kidnapping. Sam liked to think that it hadn't been that serious of a situation—after all, Maybourne had basically stood guard over her while they waited for SG-1 to rescue her. Even though Sam maintained that would have been able to escape all on her own (in her sessions with Kawalsky, he had taught her several ways to escape from wrist restraints), she recognized that Maybourne had to maintain his cover. Now, they had an in with the NID. Sam was gratified to realize that she played a part in that—even if she had to be kidnapped to make it happen.

Jack arched an eyebrow at her. "I know you are."

"Do you?" Sam challenged. "I…" She trailed off before she reached over, looping her arms around Jack's neck as she drew him towards her and kissed him.

His lips were gentle at first; he didn't want to push her. He was careful, his large hands remaining in the neutral territory of her waist as he kissed her back, only using his tongue when she prompted the initial contact.

Sam groaned when she realized that it wasn't enough, and she recognized that it had been a long time coming—before, in those months after her possession by Jolinar, she hadn't been sure of intimate contact. Now, however… now, things were different. She wanted Jack, probably more than she had wanted him before… which was saying something, honestly. She had wanted him so much before, to the point where she couldn't think straight when he was in the same space as her. Now, after everything they had been through… it was different, now. More intense, more… just more.

"Touch me," Sam whispered. She took Jack's hands and slid them under her tank top. They had been making some slow but sure progress since Jolinar inhabited her body. After her abduction by the NID however, it was like they were back to square one.

Sam didn't want to be at square one anymore.

Jack groaned and slid his hands under her loose t-shirt. Sam had discarded her bra as soon as they had returned home from work, and she welcomed Jack's touch easily. She thought back to the week before, when he had done the same thing while she had been perched on the kitchen counter—he had been much more cautious then. He wasn't now, and Sam was glad for it.

She hadn't been afraid of him before, even when he had been so careful during the months when she had still been recovering from Jolinar's possession. She wasn't afraid of him now—in fact, she wanted him more, knowing that he had been so gentle and careful with her during that time.

Now, though, Sam didn't want Jack to be gentle and careful with her.

She wanted to feel _everything_ he wanted. She wanted to feel it _all_.

So Sam arched into Jack's hands as he cupped her breasts, weighing them carefully. After a moment, his calloused thumbs started to stroke over her nipples, and Sam leaned further into his touch, moaning his name softly.

After everything… this was a new experience for them. Sam was as vulnerable as she ever had been while they were making love, and Jack was finding that he was just as exposed.

Samantha Carter was in him, and there was nothing that he could do to stop it. Not that he wanted to, anyway.

The articles of clothing between them swiftly disappeared, and soon Sam and Jack were pressed skin to skin. Their fingertips explored the places that they had known but hadn't had the chance to really lean into.

Finally, Sam wrapped her fingers around Jack's length and brokenly moaned his name; he knew that she couldn't wait anymore, and neither could he. So while she was on her back and he was hovering over her, her thighs spread on either side of his hips, Jack couldn't help the emotional declaration that whispered past his lips as he pressed into her:

"I love you."

Jack was fully inside of Sam before she wrapped her arms around his neck and started to move against him. "I love you, too," she whispered against his lips.

It wasn't long before she went over the edge, and Jack followed her immediately after, with his hands tight at her hips.

* * *

When Sam woke up, it was to Jack plucking at her right breast with one hand while his other hand was stroking between her legs. Sam came to with a moan on her lips, arching her back into Jack's front as he stroked her body into readiness.

And she was so ready for him. She probably had been ready for him before she had woken up, to be honest. Jack seemed to recognize that, along with her slow to wake up mind. He rolled her onto her stomach, which Sam welcomed as long as his calloused fingers kept stroking her body—her sides, her breasts, her thighs, that sensitive place between her legs—Sam didn't care, as long as Jack kept touching her.

Sam was on her belly now, her hips arching up towards Jack's. "Jack, please," she gasped. He kept his hands moving over the parts that he knew affected her the most, and he leaned into it when she begged for more—begged for harder, faster, just _more_.

Jack's resolve to be gentle disappeared when Sam brokenly demanded " _harder, please._ " He grasped her hips in his hands, pulling her up to her knees on the bed, and he pressed into her in the way that she had been begging for him to. Jack's hips snapped back and forward in a sharp, unyielding way, and he found himself losing control, no matter how he tried to hold back. Still, he managed to hang on until she came, and he followed her over the edge.

What was more was the fact that Sam seemed to welcome his loss of control. She opened herself to him, allowing him to touch her and pound into her as much as he wanted. And when it was all over, she pressed him onto his back and straddled him, rubbing against him until he was impossibly ready for the next round.

Jack knew that he wasn't the youngest guy around, and yet Dr. Samantha Carter—world renowned theoretical astrophysicist, top of her field—wanted him anyway. She wanted him in whatever way she could get him—there were times where he gave her the control, because he felt that she needed it. And then there were times that he took control, because Jack felt that Sam needed that as much as she needed her own control. He was rewarded by her broken moans and her call for more, _more_ , _MORE._ Jack answered in the same way. He wanted _more_.

Sex between them had always been amazing before, and both of them knew it. There was something about connecting with the right person that got to both of them. Still, being forced to wait the last few months added another element to the whole experience—there was more trust and care there that Sam had felt before but hadn't truly seen expressed until this moment, here, in his arms. Now, however… now, Jack was doing everything to show her he was there for her.

She yielded to him that way, opening herself up to him physically and emotionally. Jack seemed to recognize that, and even as he pounded into her from behind, he was achingly gentle in the way he squeezed her hips and how he caressed her breasts with his calloused fingertips.

That first time, with her on her belly, had been amazing. This time, however… when she had surrendered completely to him… well, Jack would never forget that moment. He needed _her_ , he needed _this_ , and he knew that she needed _him_ —and all of _this_ —just as much.

Jack O'Neill wasn't sure if he believed in fate, but he did believe in _them_. And that was something, right?

* * *

 **forty-seven.**

Sam woke Jack up by straddling him.

His hands slid up her naked thighs. "You should get more sleep, you know."

She shrugged her shoulders. "Maybe. But I can think of better things I can be doing with my time."

Jack's large hands went from her hips up her sides, to her breasts. She was straddling him, so it was easy to run his thumbs over the nipples of her naked breasts. "Better things, huh?"

"That's right." Sam smiled wickedly as she rotated her hips against the hardness she could feel growing between her legs. When he thrust up against her, Sam moaned loudly and dropped her head back. There were no barriers separating them—he was naked and she was more than ready for him—but he still wasn't inside her yet.

Jack couldn't deny that the game they were playing was exciting. He grinned at her in return, dropping his hands back down to her hips and squeezing tenderly. "I love you," he told her. After the way they had exposed themselves the night before, he felt the need to tell her again.

Sam stopped moved against him, her eyes suddenly shining. It hadn't just been a heat of the moment thing, then. She had suspected as much, but it was till wonderful to hear it now, without all of the heavy emotions from the night before.

"I love you, too," she told him.

And then she was sobbing.

Burying her face into Jack's neck, Sam honestly wasn't sure what had happened. One second she had been there, naked and straddling Jack, and the next, she had completely lost it. For the life of her, Sam wasn't sure that she would ever be able to explain what had triggered such an emotional outburst.

Jack, for his part, didn't seem alarmed. He simply wrapped his arms around her and held her tightly, stroking his fingers soothingly up and down her back and into her hair as he waited for her to catch her breath. This had been a long time coming, and Jack had been waiting for it ever since that day that Sam had begun to talk again while she had been laid up in the infirmary.

Ten minutes later, Sam found herself curled against Jack's side, with her face still pressed into his neck as her tears finally slowed. She inhaled deeply, doing her best to get a hold of herself as she struggled to catch her breath. Jack kept stroking her back with his sure, calloused fingers, offering his silent support. His touch meant more to her than any words ever could, and she closed her eyes, taking in the comfort he so readily gave to her.

"I'm sorry," Sam finally murmured.

That made Jack let out a humorless chuckle. "Christ, Sam, you don't have to be sorry," he told her for what had to have been the five hundredth time. He held her just a little bit tighter and dropped a kiss to her forehead.

"I'm okay," she said after another beat of silence.

"You sure about that?" His voice was just the right amount of teasing and serious, all at the same time. Sam imagined that that was a particular talent Jack O'Neill had mastered long ago.

Sam snorted and rolled her eyes, shoving against his chest without pulling away from him. That, more than anything else, reassuring Jack that she really was okay, and it made him smile.

"I _am_ ," Sam stressed. "It's just… for a second there, I was happy. I mean, really happy. Happy without the thought of happened hanging over me, and it was… it was a lot, that's all. So…" Her cheeks flushed. "I'm sorry I lost it like that."

"I get it," Jack said. Though, when he lost it, it generally involved a lot of alcohol and bruised knuckles. If Sam wanted to lose it by crying like that, he would have no problem quietly holding her until she was done.

He loved her, after all. He would do whatever he needed to do.

* * *

It seemed that either Sam had told Janet about her breakdown that morning, or the doctor had used her freaky sixth-sense to figure out that something was wrong with her best friend. Either way, Sam and Jack found themselves hosting a barbecue in their backyard later that evening, complete with Cassie running around the backyard, shrieking with the new puppy that Daniel had bought her.

"I'm going to kill him," Janet had declared with a smile on her face as she watched her new daughter with the golden retriever puppy (dubbed Boomer, based on a book that Jack had read to Cassie two months ago). There was only a slight note of frustration in her voice, so Sam knew that her friend didn't really mean it.

"It was Jack's idea!" Daniel was quick to defend. It might have been Jack's idea to get Cassie a puppy, but Daniel had been the one to go out and actually buy it, after all. He swore up and down that he would help take care of it as much as they needed, to which Jane had snidely replied that he would essentially have to move in for that to happen. Daniel had simply grinned innocently in response, but hadn't pushed the issue much further than that.

(Of course, Jack hadn't helped matters by pointing out Daniel's allergies. Daniel had snippily replied that he could just take allergy medicine, and he would get over it if it made Cassie happy. Jack grinned smugly for half an hour after that, and Sam silently marveled over the fact that Jack was such a sneaky matchmaker.)

"I'm going to kill both of them," Janet told Sam after that. "I know you and Jack love each other, and I'm very happy for the two of you, but I'm still going to kill him. And his best friend."

"Every Earth kid needs a puppy, Jan," Sam repeated (Jack had been saying that exact phrase ever since he met Cassie, practically). "It can't hurt anything."

Janet snorted, even as she bent down to ruffle the soft fur of Boomer's ears. "I'll be sure to remember that when Jack shows up with a puppy at your house one day."

Well, Sam honestly wouldn't be that mad if he did that. She often had cats growing up, but she loved dogs just as much. If she had her way, any kids she had would have both animals. They were still a long ways away from that, though.

SG-13 arrived not long after that, along with Wells, Marci, and little Lyla. Marci watched in amusement as Wells knelt down and held the infant out to the puppy. The fluffy golden retriever sniffed the baby curiously, snorted his approval, and then yipped in excitement. Wells grinned in triumph as he stood up, the baby held securely in his arms.

"See, Marci, what did I tell you? We can totally get a dog for Lyla!"

Marci laughed at that and shook her head. "I'm pretty sure the dog would really be for you. But whatever you say, dear."

Wells grinned. "That sounded like a yes to me."

The rest of SG-13 hooted and hollered, offering their obvious approval of the Wells family getting a dog. Jack sidled up to Sam, watching her with a perfectly innocent expression on his face.

"Heeeey," he greeted in an overly sweet voice that Sam had never heard him use before. "Since everyone else has a puppy, we should get one too. You know, so they can all be friends."

Sam could only laugh at Jack's suggestion, and she shook her head ruefully. There was no way she could say no to Jack when he was looking at her like that… and there was no way she could say no the thought of a cute puppy.

Janet laughed outright when she saw how readily Sam was giving in. "See!" she exclaimed as she shoved an accusing finger in Jack and Sam direction. "I told you so!"

Sam only laughed harder. And finally felt free.

* * *

 **I imagine that this story only has about two chapters left. Thanks for reading!**


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